


Ambition

by red_rook



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drugs, F/F, F/M, adora has the Big Anxiety, but they're in college and shit gets messy, catradora and glimbow are endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28093869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_rook/pseuds/red_rook
Summary: Adora didn't expect to see Catra, her former best friend, again for the first time in years in an easy-A English class at their university. When they are forced together because of a class project, they re-learn each others' patterns, motivations, and issues. It could even be called a meet-cute, in its own messy way.Too bad Catra is hiding a secret that could destroy her and everything she's ever worked for.(this work is not connected to any of my other works! i just really like writing college AUs)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey folks thanks for checking this out! if you don't mind please leave some comments so i can get a good judge of how well i am pulling this off :)

7:30 am, on the dot. Adora bolted upright at the first sound of her phone alarm blaring, heart racing. She always got anxious (well,  _ extra  _ anxious) on the first day of every new semester. The feeling was odd: excitement mixed with a grim anticipation of the coming workload tsunami. And this semester, she’d really outdone herself: twenty-three credit hours, mostly upper-level biology and chemistry, plus calculus. When she had shared her schedule with Bow and Glimmer, Glimmer had outright laughed.

“You’re joking, right?” Glimmer had said, expression growing stormy when Adora had winced. After a long-winded chewing out courtesy of her best friend, Adora had been marched to her computer by Glimmer and Bow and forced to swap her Microbiology class with an easy A creative writing class.

“I know the professor, she’s a sweetheart,” Glimmer had reassured her. “And god knows you need some kind of bright spot in your life. You literally never have fun, you realize?”

Adora couldn’t help but smile briefly at the memory while she brushed her teeth and washed her face, careful not to wake the other occupants of the apartment: Bow and Glimmer. Her first class, Biochemistry I, was at 9 am, so she had a bit of time to kill until then. 

It was drizzling outside, the cool gray gentle kind that never failed to turn the atmosphere a little bit more peaceful. Adora curled up on the couch with a banana and some soy milk, content to watch the rain for a little while to ground herself. She put in her AirPods and picked a playlist, humming quietly to herself as a muted R&B song came on. It was easy to get lost in moments like these: little drops of calm and quiet she could immerse herself in before the next crisis, deadline, stressful event. They were usually just enough to tide her over until the next time she could stop to catch her breath. 

The toaster dinged, breaking the peaceful interlude and making her jump. Toast in mouth, Adora made her way over to the stove to make eggs. The household shared two aprons between the two of them: one was hot pink and read ‘Your Opinion  **Wasn’t** In The Recipe’- Glimmer’s- and the other depicted the naked torso of a very fit man wearing  _ very _ tight briefs. The second one Adora had found at a Goodwill, and she’d insisted on keeping it, with Glimmer’s enthusiastic support and Bow’s mild disapproval. Of course, she picked the sexy guy apron with a barely hidden smile. After a moment of thought, she snagged two extra eggs for Glimmer; cold eggs on a plate, she reasoned, was better than no breakfast at all. On the other hand, Bow always meal prepped, so she never needed to worry about him. 

Three eggs later, the clock read 8:05 am. Adora sped to her and Glimmer’s shared bathroom to get ready: a quick shower, followed by blow-drying her hair and tucking it into her signature ponytail. Frowning in the mirror, she took the time to pluck her slightly untidy brows and put on thin black eyeliner. Sure, she had no one to impress and no time to date, but she could at least be _presentable._

Slipping on a simple jacket, Adora made sure to snag an umbrella before she left the apartment, closing the door delicately behind her (Glimmer had yelled at her for slamming the door shut before, when Adora had forgotten to be quiet while in a rush to go to class, and Adora did not want a repeat experience) Since it was only barely drizzling, Adora figured a walk around her university would do her more good than would waiting in the Chemistry building until class started. 

She, Bow, and Glimmer lived in the apartment complex nearest their university- only a seven minute walk to campus- which meant that Adora never used Glimmer’s car or the campus shuttle to go to class. Neither did Bow. Glimmer, on the other hand, seemed to take getting to class as quickly and in the laziest way possible as a personal challenge. One particular highlight was the day of her Microeconomics final, when she had woken up a whopping two minutes before the final was due to begin, and by violating multiple traffic rules had still managed to get to her final on time.

Adora still got nervous just thinking about it.

The Psychology and Sociology building, made mostly of concrete with giant reflective windows that served as sky mirrors, came into view. She’d never taken a class here, but both Bow and Glimmer had. According to them, the bathrooms were particularly nasty, and, as Glimmer had once put it, “they smell like truck stop sex and old cigarettes.” 

“How would you know what truck stop sex smells like?” Bow had asked, curiously, which had made Glimmer turn very faintly pink.

“I have an active imagination,” she’d huffed. “I’m not THAT much of a hoe.”

Adora’s smirk and “You sure about that?” had earned her a punch. 

Rubbing her arm reflexively, Adora walked over to the Physics building, slate gray and adorned with a glossy black statue depicting a cubic crystal. Now  _ this  _ building had plenty of memories associated with it. Adora had always found physics incredibly boring, as any reasonable person would. The fact that she was required to take not one, but two-  _ two!  _ physics classes in order to satisfy pre-med requirements was infuriating. It was the day before the third exam for Physics II that Adora had broken down crying- real  _ sobbing _ , not just tears- in front of Bow and Glimmer for the first time. It had started when she’d been unable to figure out a physics problem, and then another, and then another. The material had suddenly become overwhelming, and then everything at once had also become overwhelming, and she’d been unable to hold it in a second longer. 

Bow had gotten her ice cream, while Glimmer had held her tightly until her tears had stemmed, but Adora remembered how horribly empty she’d felt despite her best friends’ efforts. She’d ended up with a B in the class- any lower, and her dreams of getting into one of the best medical schools would have been dashed then and there.

Clenching her fists and breathing deeply, she moved on. Here was the Health Sciences building, Bright Moon University’s pride and joy, all striking marble and Roman design as if it were a temple offered up in the name of science. The Health Sciences building was what got put on postcards and on the front page of the BMU website. Adora felt a weird mangled pride about the building. Yes, she was training to be a doctor at one of the most prestigious universities for undergraduate pre-medical programs, but something about the place was incredibly daunting. Whenever Adora took classes there, she sat ramrod straight and didn’t take her eyes off her professor for a second. 

Rounding the corner was the quad, a velvety green expanse with sparse, short, deciduous trees that turned gold in the autumn. When the weather was nice, Adora would come out here to read her textbooks; breathing in the open air, surrounded by grass, helped her studying become a much more pleasant experience. Also, it was mildly entertaining to watch the occasional small groups of students get high. It was easy to tell who was sleepy and who was high. Sleepy people would conk out, usually with a textbook or their bag on top of their face, or underneath their head. On the other hand, after a few hits, stoners would usually lack the forethought to shield their face or use a makeshift pillow, and would instead just flop down with a vacant grin. 

Today, the weather wasn’t pleasant enough for anyone to be out on the quad except for a few joggers, plus miserable kids like Adora walking to class. It was a shame; usually Perfuma would be out here, sometimes with an edible in hand and sometimes not. Regardless of whether or not she was high, Perfuma was always a joy to talk to, which honestly could not be said for most of the population of Bright Moon University who got high on a regular basis. 

Across the quad was her destination: the Chemistry building. Taking in a shaky breath, she shouldered her bag and walked in. This place was the only building that BMU hadn’t renovated yet in the last twenty years, despite its frankly ridiculous endowment of six billion dollars. You could tell that the poor place was far past its prime, with its warped yellow window panes and scuffed linoleum. 

But Adora took a strange comfort here; old and broken-down was deeply familiar in a way that new and expensive wasn’t. Sometimes, if she pressed her palms into her eyes hard enough, when she opened them she could almost see a ghost of Horde High. And with the ghost of Horde High came ghosts of everything else in her childhood: places, things,  _ people _ ...

But Adora didn’t have time for ghosts anymore. 

_____________________________________________

  
  


“Catra.”

“Mmm.”

“Catra, wake up.”

“Ughhhhhh.”

“There’s a fire in the apartment.”

“No there isn’t.”

At this point, Catra’s horrible, horrible roommate physically  _ yanked  _ her out of bed, and blissful blackness was wrenched away, replaced by horrible, horrible reality. 

“Good morning!” Scorpia had a huge smile on her face that Catra wanted to claw right off. “You have class in half an hour, so I figured I should wake you up.”

“How the fuck do you know my schedule?” Catra grunted, though it was more out of habit than actual surprise. Scorpia made it a point to know everything about Catra; at least, the things about Catra that Catra had deemed ‘freely accessible knowledge’.

“You should consider yourself lucky that I do,” Scorpia chirped, “because if I didn’t then you’d probably be late to Financial Accounting!”

“I hate Financial Accounting,” Catra groaned.

“How do you know? You’ve never even been to the class yet.”

At this, Catra made the effort to focus her eyes enough to glare blearily at Scorpia. “Scorpia, it’s  _ accounting _ . Literally no one finds that interesting. Not even  _ accountants  _ think accounting is interesting. It’s the business concentration kids flock to when they suck at everything else in business.”

Scorpia shrugged. “Well, you still have to take it, so you should _ really _ get out of bed and get ready. Especially if you take into account how far our new apartment is from campus.”

“Isn’t there a bus every fifteen minutes?” 

“Yeah, and the next one is in seven minutes. If you miss it, you’ll be pretty late for class.”

Cursing, Catra stumbled into Scorpia’s, hers, and Entrapta’s shared bathroom, splashing water on her face, raking her fingers through her hair roughly- thank god she’d cut it into a pixie- and brushing her teeth (definitely not for as long as she should, though). Classes at the business school had higher standards for attire, disgustingly, than did the rest of the university, so she slipped on a burgundy crewneck sweater, pairing it with black slacks and black heeled boots. Ignoring Scorpia’s cheery ‘Bye!’ she rushed down the hall- taking a brief moment to scratch behind the ears of her cat, Melog- and practically rammed through the door.

She poked her head outside- and yes, because of  _ course  _ this was her stupid fucking luck- it was raining. As if she needed any further confirmation that the day was going to end up being shitty. Screaming internally, she bolted for the bus stop, hefting her bag over her head and praying that none of the class materials she’d haphazardly stuffed in there would fall out. The bus arrived mere seconds before she did, and as a result she never broke her sprint toward the bus stop, to the bus, up the steps, until she could finally collapse in a seat.

Glancing out the window, which was boring and gray, she huffed and yanked out her phone to check her texts. 

There was Scorpia, as usual:

_ Scorpia: Have a great day! <3 _

_ Scorpia: You’re definitely gonna kick major butt in financial accounting! _

_ Scorpia: Don’t forget our dinner date :) _

Oh, shit. Catra  _ had _ forgotten about that. As if she didn’t have enough problems on her plate on the first day back at university. She could always dip early, or outright not show up. But that would make things extremely awkward, considering they were roommates, and Catra really couldn’t afford to be homeless now.

Besides, Scorpia was one of the few people who had ever shown Catra any measure of kindness in her short miserable life. Arguably she was the only one whose kindness was actually genuine, since the only other person who’d been as gentle and sweet to Catra had ended up stabbing Catra in the back.

She could do a date. Whatever. It wasn’t as if Scorpia would be her first, well, anything (though she had a sneaking suspicion that if things progressed, Catra would end up being Scorpia’s first everything). They’d gone on two already, both in senior year of high school. Catra had honestly been more surprised that Scorpia had waited over a year to ask her out again, rather than the fact that Scorpia was still attracted to her.

She’d probably hesitated so long because Catra had coldly rebuffed her at nearly every turn. Oops.

But now, Catra was trying to be better to her, or something, and a couple weeks ago, when Catra had been studying for her summer classes, Scorpia had hesitantly asked her out. Catra had said ‘Sure’, without thinking, and Scorpia’s face had lit up with such delight that Catra just couldn’t find it in herself to deflate her hopes. Instead she’d smiled awkwardly and attempted to play along with Scorpia’s excitement, until it had touched one nerve too many and she’d snapped at her. 

Regardless, she really had no one else to blame except herself for this mess. She could make the argument that it was also on Scorpia for being too goddam dense to take the hint that Catra had never really liked her back. But then again, Catra suspected that Scorpia already knew this, and had decided to shoot her shot anyway. 

Oh well. She’d figure something out. There were a couple texts from Lonnie, mostly insults but also asking about her wellbeing. She fired off a few insults back and a ‘i’m fine, stop worrying, u annoying ass hoe’. Apart from that, no one important had texted her. Good. She could barely deal with people on her good days, and today was already shaping up to be awful. 

Next, she checked her school email. Her inbox was bustling with introductions from professors- some fake and happy, some curt and to the point- all of them annoying. The most irritating one, though, was definitely the email from Dr. Spinnerella, for the stupid easy A creative writing class she’d decided to take on impulse. By the end of the email, which ended with the cringeworthy line, “ _ I can’t wait to see all of your friendly faces, and I’m so excited to take you on a creative journey this semester!”  _ Catra was honestly surprised that her eyes weren’t permanently stuck facing upwards from how often she’d rolled them. 

The bus finally rolled to a stop in front of the BMU bus stop, and Catra was the first one out. Glaring at anyone who made eye contact with her, she ran to the business school complex, up three flights of stairs, and into the classroom for Financial Accounting with five minutes to spare. 

Glancing around the room, she groaned internally. Great, she knew nobody. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem- Catra far preferred studying on her own- but she knew Financial Accounting was notorious for its group projects and presentations. Most classes at the business school were. That meant the chances of her getting paired with a moron was much too high for her tastes. 

The only seats left were either at the front with the professor, which Catra abhorred, or next to a girl with ridiculous pink hair cut into a bob. When she sat down next to her, the girl smiled at her, which Catra ignored. She felt a small sense of cruel delight at the girl’s hurt expression at Catra’s rudeness, before focusing on the professor and popping open her laptop.

_ Whatever. Let’s just get this over with. _

_____________________________________________

Who gives out quizzes on syllabus week?

The old, ornery professor for Adora’s Biochemistry class did, apparently. As did the equally old and ornery professor for Adora’s Calculus II class.  _ Two  _ quizzes on her first Friday back, one right after another, as she bemoaned to Bow and Glimmer. 

“I  _ told  _ you to take an easier course load, didn’t I?” Glimmer lectured sternly as the three of them sat down to eat lunch in Bright Moon’s biggest dining hall. “You have no one to blame except yourself.”

“Go easy on her, Glim,” Bow jumped in, giving Adora a sympathetic smile. “It really is bullcrap that they’re giving you quizzes on the first week. Absolutely no chill.”

“Yeah.” Adora sighed. “How about you guys? How were your classes?”

“Oh my god, Adora,” Glimmer began, leaning forward across the table, “in Financial Accounting there was this girl who sat next to me.  _ So  _ hot, but also such a  _ bitch _ . Totally ignored me, honestly, like where does she get off? You can’t treat people like that just because you’re attractive.”

“Really?” Adora smirked. “Spill. What did she look like?”

“Okay, well, she looked Latina, I think? And she had this cute messy pixie cut, it looked really good on her. I wish I had the jawline to pull that off.”

“Your hair right now is really pretty, though,” Bow mused, in between bites of lasagna. 

Glimmer blushed, but kept going. “You know everyone dresses business casual for classes at the business school, yeah? She was wearing these knee-high black heeled boots and,  _ wow _ , step on me please.”

Adora laughed at that. “You should definitely tell her that next class.”

“No! You need to see her for herself, she’s crazy intimidating, she has this ‘fuck-you’ aura to her. And her being hot makes it even worse. I mean it, Adora, come to Financial Accounting with me next time and check her out. Bet you could hook up with her. I think she’d be your type.”

“I don’t really have time to hook up this semester,” Adora pointed out. “Freshman year was when I had all my fun. Unless I meet a girl that’s really, really special, I kinda doubt I’ll be getting any.”

Glimmer rolled her eyes. “You said that last semester too, and then you hooked up with Mermista, like, five times.”

“Okay, well, she initiated, and now she’s dating that guy Sebastian, so it isn’t happening again.”

“Doesn’t Sebastian go by ‘Sea Hawk’?” Bow asked mildly. “I think I remember him mentioning it that one time at Mermista’s party.”

“Yeah, but that’s a stupid-ass name, and we’re not going to indulge him by using it,” Glimmer retorted.

“Anyway,” Adora continued, “I’m too busy to be putting myself out there. It’s fine, I don’t mind being a nun.” 

“Good luck being a nun, since pretty much the entire population of gay women at BMU throws themselves at you.” Glimmer casually took a bite of her salmon salad as Adora turned pink. “When’s your next class?”

“It’s at 3, it’s the English class you made me take.” 

“Oh! Glimmer and I can walk you there.” Bow looked pleased. “We have our philosophy class at 3:15.”

Adora brightened. “Cool! Do you want to maybe get in a little workout before then, though?”

“God, you guys are such sports nuts,” Glimmer groaned.

Bow frowned. “It’s called being healthy. You should join us, really! It’s fun, and the adrenaline is a natural high.”

“I already join you guys once a week. That is  _ plenty. _ ”

“Maybe if you came, you’d meet some hot guys and girls. Then you wouldn’t have to thirst over your classmates in Financial Accounting,” Adora suggested slyly.

Unsurprisingly, she ended up getting Glimmer’s used napkin thrown at her face.

_____________________________________________

Financial Accounting sucked, as predicted. Catra was the first one out the door when class was over. Checking her schedule, she found she had free time until 3pm, which was when the stupid easy A English class was. Scorpia would probably want to get lunch with her, which Catra was decidedly not interested in doing. 

So instead of checking her phone, where a whole mess of texts from Scorpia were waiting, Catra took the bus back to their apartment. Thankfully, only Entrapta was there, tinkering with Scorpia’s Xbox.

“Did she give you permission to mess with that thing?” Catra asked dryly. Entrapta looked up, purple locks of hair bouncing. 

“Nope!” Entrapta grinned hugely. “But I calculated that my chances of improving her user experience are approximately 70 percent, so she shouldn’t mind!”

“What about the other 30 percent?” Catra plopped her bag down on their beat-up couch. The motion startled Melog, as the cat had been curled up on one of the ratty cushions. Melog threw her a dirty look before darting away to Catra and Scorpia's bedroom.

“She might have her save data for most of the games in her library be deleted!” Entrapta’s tone, unsurprisingly, was still as cheerful as ever.

Catra scoffed. “Just don’t touch my stuff, or you’re dead.”

“Affirmative!” Entrapta wasn’t even looking at her anymore; she had already returned to her project. Honestly, Catra liked that Entrapta didn’t really give a shit about human interactions. It meant that Catra didn’t need to put in any effort, either. 

Taking her makeup bag from her and Scorpia’s shared bedroom, Catra made her way to the bathroom. Finance was a game of appearances, and as a young woman about to enter the industry she needed to get used to that. That was the official reason Catra had for why she wore makeup every day, but the truth was she genuinely liked playing with the stuff. She never had time to write or draw anymore, which meant makeup was the only available method for her to express herself artistically. 

Today she picked smoky dark purple eyeshadow to go with her signature bold cat-eye, finishing the look with nude lipstick. She filled in her brows, dark and thick as usual. She frowned at herself in the mirror, poking at the freckles on her cheeks. When she was young, her foster mother would always point them out, and how ugly they made her face look.

“Adora doesn’t have any freckles because she’s responsible and uses sunscreen,” Ms. Weaver would jab. “If you had any sense at all you’d do the same, so you wouldn’t have those blemishes.”

As a result, Catra always made a point of using such light foundation on her cheeks that her freckles were always still visible. She didn’t give a damn if anyone thought they were ugly. Considering how much she’d hooked up last year, she didn’t think anyone actually did. She wondered if Scorpia would be upset if Catra kept hooking up with people this year, now that she’d agreed to go on that stupid date. Not that it would stop Catra. Monogamy was not something she was interested in. Not since, well… 

She forced her mind away from the subject before the familiar mixture of fury and humiliation and despair could bubble up. 

It was still only 1 pm. Wait, she hadn’t eaten yet. She should probably do that. Brushing past Entrapta, who was still working on Scorpia’s Xbox, Catra made her way to their cramped kitchen. The fridge was nearly empty, except for some leftovers from Outback Steakhouse. Those had been in there for a week and half, and Catra was not in the mood to check it for mold. The cupboards, on the other hand, were fruitful with unhealthy processed instant food. After a few moments of deliberation, she decided on cup ramen. While she waited for the water in their beat-up electric kettle to boil, she finally checked Scorpia’s texts with a heavy groan.

_ Scorpia: Hey! _

_ Scorpia: Do you wanna meet for lunch? :) _

_ Scorpia: We don’t have to, though, no pressure! _

_ Scorpia: Okay that’s cool, I’ll just eat with some other friends. _

_ Scorpia: Make sure to eat, though! I know you forget sometimes.  _

_ Scorpia: Our fridge, btw, is nearly empty. We really should go grocery shopping. _

_ Scorpia: Do you want to stop by Target after our date today? _

Catra really could not find the energy within herself to respond properly, so instead she just sent a thumbs up. Hopefully that would keep Scorpia off her back for a little while. Slurping her noodles, she scrolled through the news. Everything was horrible, as usual. The Dow was looking depressing, and NASDAQ wasn’t faring much better. Not that it mattered, anyway, since she barely had any money to scrape together for basic necessities, much less investing in stocks. 

But the semester started today, which meant Catra’s little side job was also starting up again. She worked in the summer as well, at Chipotle, but she made much, much more money during the school year. The thought brought the first real smile of today to Catra’s face.

“I have finished my improvements on Scorpia’s Xbox!” Entrapta announced proudly. “Catra, would you like to help me test it out by playing a few games with me before your next class?”

“Only if I get to shoot things,” Catra replied. “I hate the stupid happy bright stuff Scorpia’s into.”

“Yes, I remember your preference for blood and violence.” Entrapta held out the spare controller, and after a moment of hesitation Catra took it. They ended up playing Call of Duty for an hour and a half, until Catra remembered the time and sped off for her second and final class of the day. 

The rain, at least, had stopped by now, which made Catra significantly less miserable. It wasn’t too sunny, either, which meant that the weather was actually quite nice. Catra allowed herself to feel a tiny bit of cautious optimism. Maybe the rest of the day wouldn’t suck. Maybe this semester she’d hate herself less. 

_____________________________________________

  
  


“Make sure to let us know in the group chat if any of the gay English majors there hit on you.” Glimmer nudged Adora with an obnoxious smirk as the three of them walked to the English building.

“You suck.”

“You swallow!”

“ _ Glimmer, _ ” Bow interjected, scandalized.

_____________________________________________

  
  


Catra peered inside the classroom before stepping in. The class was mostly girls, with a couple of awkward-looking guys scattered here and there. It wasn’t a large group, only around twelve kids. The professor looked nice, she supposed. She had a bit of a motherly smile as she typed away on her laptop at the lectern.

There were a couple of seats left open in the back. Catra took one and kicked back in her seat. She could afford to relax now. Nothing could possibly ruin this class; it was famous for how everyone walked away with an A.

And then Adora walked in.

Their eyes met.

Her heart dropped.

Of. Fucking.  _ Course. _


	2. Chapter 2

When Adora saw her, she physically stopped in her tracks. 

Catra…? But how? What? Was she dreaming?

The girl who had once been her closest, most important friend matched her gaze. The only indication Catra gave that she recognized Adora at all was a slight widening of her eyes, before it was replaced with a carefully practiced neutral expression. Then, Catra very deliberately turned away. 

“Oh?” Dr. Spinnerella turned to Adora. “You must be our last student! Please, have a seat. Let’s get started.”

The only available seats were either right next to Catra or way up at the front. Adora considered for a few moments before taking a seat at the front; considering how awful things had been when she and Catra had last seen each other, she really didn’t want to get her face clawed off. She let out a heavy breath, sat down, and offered her professor a pleasant and hopefully eager-seeming smile.

“Welcome to Special Topics in Literature: Graphic Novels!” Dr. Spinnerella smiled at everyone. “I just want to introduce the course before we get into class, but I’m hoping to get a lot done today…”

As Dr. Spinnerella kept talking, Adora couldn’t stop herself from turning around to glance at Catra. She looked so different, and yet it felt like nothing had really changed. Catra had short hair now, which looked artfully mussed. That was new; when they were younger her hair had always been long and bushy. She wore makeup, which was also new. It wasn’t as if Catra _needed_ makeup to be hot, but whoa. Her eye makeup was captivating, and it drew even more attention to her unique blue and amber eyes. 

But her expression, of hostile indifference? That was classic Catra. It was the face she had when she was in _don’t talk to me_ mode, which was pretty frequent.

Catra didn’t look at her again after that first initial stare, and so Adora tried her best to not look back so often. She didn’t want to seem creepy, it was just… she couldn’t help herself. How had Adora never heard about Catra? Sure, it was a big university, but if Catra and Adora were in the same year, that meant Adora had gone a whole year without knowing that her old best friend went to the same university as Adora did. It probably hadn’t helped matters that Catra had made a point of blocking Adora on everything after the CPS had gotten involved. 

She wondered if Catra still hated her.

“Alright, now we're going to get into our big- and _only_ \- project of this semester!" Dr. Spinnerella's words broke Adora's train of thought immediately. "I'm going to grade you guys based on weekly submissions of your progress, because as you might have guessed, you guys will be working on creating your very own graphic novels. Every week, I'll have a specific task I'll want you guys to complete, like for example, a full outline of the story, or five pages of your rough draft. Starting this week, that's sixteen weeks and therefore sixteen tasks you guys will be completing. For a detailed look into each assignment, check the syllabus. There are fourteen of you, so I'll be splitting you guys into seven groups."

A girl's hand shot up. "How will the groups be assigned?"

Dr. Spinnerella nodded. "Good question. I thought it'd be unfair if students felt left out because people paired up with their friends, so I'll be sorting everyone based on the alphabetical order of your last names. Makes things easy for me, since I have you guys' attendance page pulled up right now!"

Before her professor even finished talking, a cold spike of realization had hit Adora; one that she was sure had just hit Catra as well. Part of the reason why Catra and Adora had been so inseparable, apart from how they'd grown up in the same foster home, was that they were always, _always,_ together at school. Catra Flores. Adora Gray. Flores was always right before Gray. That meant they were placed together in every class. Bundled up next to each other in line. Got their tests back nearly at the same time. And it also meant…

"Catra Flores and Adora Gray? You guys are going to be Group 3. Feel free to think of a more creative name! Go ahead and introduce yourselves." Dr. Spinnerella beamed at them. With an air of someone being marched to the executioner, Adora gathered her things and approached Catra's desk. Every muscle of her body was tensed up like she was expecting a blow. 

But Catra didn't strike her, or yell at her. 

Instead, she smirked up at Adora, deigning to get up out of her seat to greet her and instead leaning back casually in her chair as if she owned the place.

"Hey, Adora," she said, in that same raspy, low voice that had haunted Adora's thoughts and dreams for years. Those words were still dangerous- a completely different kind of dangerous.

But Adora was not to be deterred. This was class. She was going to act professional no matter what. "Hey, Catra. It's, uh, been a while."

Catra’s eyes glittered in the artificial white light that glowed from the ceiling. "Hadn't noticed."

Adora swallowed. It was impossible to stare Catra fully in the face for longer than a few seconds. "Uh, anyway, let's get started on our project, yeah?"

Her former best friend averted her gaze, finally, and shrugged. "Sure."

"That's it?" Adora blurted, and winced immediately. So much for being professional.

"Did you expect something else? Because if so, let me make something completely clear." Catra finally left her seat, and when she stood, she nearly matched Adora's height, which was terrifying. _Heels. She must be wearing heels._ She leaned forward, hands planted on her desk, until they were nearly nose-to-nose. "I. Don't. Give. A. Shit. About. You."

"I- what?"

Catra's expression was icier than ever as she sat back down. "You leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me.They only took two kids from Horde High to BMU. If you'd stayed, I'd have lost my spot. So let's just get this stupid project for this stupid easy-A class over with."

"Oh." Adora blinked, trying to process Catra’s words and their ramifications. Quickly giving up, she kicked back into autopilot. "Um, great. Look, I'm kind of busy this week, so I was wondering if maybe you just wanted to meet up today and knock out the first assignment. Get it done early so we don't have to worry about it. We can meet at Mystacor Library, on campus."

Catra rolled her eyes. "Nice to see you're still every bit the try-hard you used to be. Fine. When?"

"Does seven in the evening tonight work for you? If not, we can figure out a better time."

Catra hesitated for a second or two, eyes darting back and forth. Then she nodded. "Sure, yeah. Works for me."

“Okay, uh, can I have your number? So we can text.” Adora winced, knowing full well that what she was actually asking was _‘Can you unblock me?’_

Catra saw through her easily, as was made obvious by the curl of her lip. “I’ll text you if I need to. Don’t worry about it.”

"If you're done introducing yourselves and figuring out your plans for your projects, all of you are free to go early!" Dr. Spinnerella announced. "My treat."

Catra stood up, running a hand through her hair and making it look even more windswept. Adora’s eyes involuntarily followed the motion of her hand. "And that's my cue to leave. See you at seven, princess. Don't be late."

And just like that, she left, leaving Adora to stare dumbfounded at her rapidly disappearing form.

The rest of the afternoon Adora spent in a haze. Her last class, Immunology, was at five, and Adora spent the entire lecture staring off into the space right next to her professor’s head. That also meant she’d been neglecting her, Bow, and Glimmer’s group chat, which had been pestering Adora for the past few hours:

_BEST FRIEND SQUAD!!_

_Glimmer: so are we on for dinner tonight? we’re all free right?_

_Bow: yeah, I am! :D_

_Glimmer: adora?_

_Glimmer: adora are you free_

_Adora: No sorry I have a thing_

_Glimmer: did you meet a hottie in your english class??? DID YOU GET A DATE_

_Bow: not gonna lie, I’m curious now too :O_

_Glimmer: bitch ANSWER_

_Glimmer: bitch_

_Glimmer: from the fact that you aren’t replying, i’m assuming y’all are doing it in the nasty bathrooms in the humanities hall rn_

_Bow: GLIM holy crap_

Adora hated to talk about her past, and for the most part Bow and Glimmer had respected that. She’d brought up Catra a few times, but had never spoken about her in depth. She’d stuck to tidbits like ‘She was a really close childhood friend’ and ‘We grew up in Ms. Weaver’s foster home together’ and ‘She was a really good writer and artist’. 

Bow and Glimmer knew that the two of them had not parted on good terms, but Adora hadn’t told them the gritty details. By the time CPS had taken Adora from the foster home and brought her to Angella’s home, where she was to live until she graduated from high school, it had been sufficient time for Adora to wipe away her tears, fix her hair, and square her shoulders. Apart from a slightly reddened nose and eyes, Adora had shown no sign to Angella or Glimmer that the placement of Adora in her new home had been anything but pleasant. 

She’d rationalized it at the time as not wanting to be a burden on Angella and Glimmer, when they’d already done so much for her by taking her in. But that didn’t change the fact that she’d cried herself to sleep every night in her new, much more spacious and comfortable bed. 

In fact, she hadn’t ever really told anyone about what Catra had truly meant to her. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she did. It didn’t seem like something she could just… _talk_ about. 

So Catra would stay a secret for a little longer, then. Just until Adora had sorted out her feelings. Then, she could tell her best friends about Catra in a safe, packaged way. 

_BEST FRIEND SQUAD!!_

_Adora: Sorry for ghosting you guys, Immunology went on a bit long_

_Glimmer: spill the tea_

_Adora: Nothing happened I swear lol_

_Adora: Just, I have a project for the English class I need to work on tonight with my assigned partner_

_Glimmer: IS SHE HOT_

_Bow: i mean, we don’t know her partner is a girl…_

_Glimmer: bow shut up_

_Glimmer: you know as well as i do that boys never take those types of classes_

_Glimmer: excluding cool ones like you who are secure in their masculinity :)_

_Adora: She’s an old friend_

_Glimmer: omg!!! from horde high?_

_Bow: were you guys close?_

_Adora: Yeah_

_Adora: Anyways, any updates on Perfuma’s party? It had better be good, since I swear it’s the only one I’m going to this semester_

_Glimmer: yeah yeah i get it_

_Glimmer: perfuma sent me a couple texts the other day yeah_

_Glimmer: it’s happening in three weeks on fri night 10 to 3_

_Glimmer: she’s stocking up on hella weed. plus vodka and beer_

_Bow: ayy it’s been ages since i’ve smoked with Perfuma!_

_Glimmer: wym it’s been ages_

_Glimmer: you guys hung out all the time this summer lol_

_Bow: i mean, yeah?_

_Bow: anyway, i’m hyped! her stuff is always good_

_Bow: like some strains make me super paranoid but hers never does_

_Glimmer: facts_

_Glimmer: adora on a scale of 1 to 10 how messy are you planning to get_

_Adora: Depends on how badly I flunk my Immunology exam that’s on the day before_

_Adora: So probably a 10_

_Glimmer: we love to see it!!_

When Adora got home, Glimmer and Bow were curled up on the couch watching Netflix. They were so engrossed, they barely gave her a brief wave and smile before returning to their show. That was fine. That meant it would be easier to avoid talking about Catra until she was ready. 

She hurried to the bathroom, where she scrubbed her face, brushed her teeth, re-did her hair. She put on a light layer of pink lipstick and drew on her eyeliner more dramatically than she had this morning. When she turned to leave, she paused for a moment. Then she rushed back to the counter, pulled out the perfume Glimmer had bought for her that she’d used maybe three times in total, and spritzed some on her wrists.

“Glimmer, can I borrow your car?” Adora called out as she left the bathroom and headed for the door. 

“Sure,” Glimmer responded. Then her eyes narrowed, and she stood up. “Wait a minute. Why do you look… like… hotter?”

“Just wanted to freshen up a bit,” Adora replied, tapping her foot nervously. 

Glimmer approached her, taking in a deep breath as she did so. “And why the hell do you smell so good?”

“It’s not like I normally smell like garbage,” Adora protested.

“Yeah, but you don’t normally smell like lemon and pine either! Girl, what is going _on._ I thought you said this was a study date, not a date date.”

“It _is_ a study date!” Adora insisted. “It’s just… it’s been a while since I’ve seen this friend. I just want to look decent, you know?”

“Cause you wanna bang her?” Glimmer winked obnoxiously.

“Why don’t you focus on getting with the hot Latina girl from Financial Accounting? Then you can quiz me on my sex life.” Adora swiped Glimmer’s car keys from the kitchen counter and bolted for the door before Glimmer could splutter a retort. 

She got to Mystacor Library at 6:51 pm. It was relatively empty; unsurprising, since today was the first day back. Picking a table next to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, Adora set down her bags and gazed off out of the window. It was still late summer, so the sun hadn’t completely set yet. Its retreating form cast a soft orange glow on the quad, making the neatly-trimmed grass flare up with light. The sight managed to still Adora’s jittering fingertips on the table. 

She still flinched when Catra sat down across from her, though. 

“Oh, hey,” Adora began cautiously. “Um, I brought dinner. I didn’t eat before coming here, so, yeah. I brought you some too, in case you wanted any.”

Catra huffed. “How much do I owe you?”

“What?”

“The food, idiot. How much did it cost?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Adora laughed, way too loudly, cringing at herself immediately afterward. “It’s on me.”

Catra glared at her. “I’m not your charity case.”

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t mean it like that- it’s just…” Adora’s mouth worked, trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t piss off Catra further. “Just as a thank-you gift for agreeing to work with me?”

This turned Catra’s glare into a bemused expression. “Hate to break it to you, but I really doubt I’m going to be carrying us for this project. I took it for an easy A, same as you.”

“You’re not an English major? But you were always so good at writing back then.”

Catra snorted. “Yeah, I’d rather not be broke for the rest of my life, thanks. I’m doing a Bachelor of Business Administration. Concentration is in finance.”

Something about that combination of words triggered a strange sense of deja vu in Adora’s mind. Something important- but Adora decided to push it away for the time being. 

“Oh, that’s cool. I’m a pre-med. Hoping to get into a decent medical school right after I graduate. I want to specialize in trauma surgery for now, so I’m thinking about applying to the Bright Moon EMT program next semester.”

“Still love playing the hero, huh?” Catra rested her chin on her hands, interlocking her fingers.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Adora asked, an edge to her voice.

“Never mind. What’s in the bag? Don’t tell me it’s some shit like McDonald’s.”

_Someone’s getting picky over their free food,_ is what Adora would have wanted to tease, and what she’d have said if they were five years younger and still living together. Instead, she says, “It’s burrito bowls. From Chipotle. Um. I got you the order that you always used to get. You liked the spicy salsa and carne asada back then.” 

Catra blinked, accepting the burrito bowl. Her nails were all long and black except for two on her left hand. Adora caught herself staring at them. “You remembered.”

_Of course I did,_ Adora replied in her head, _I remember everything about you. I remember the time you fell off the swing set when you were six and I was seven and you split your lip but refused to cry. I remember your top three favorite colors: red, black which isn’t a color, and blue like the color of my eyes._ But she bowed her head and dug into her burrito bowl instead.

After a few impossibly long beats of silence, Adora felt eyes on her and looked up. Catra had been studying Adora’s face closely, perfectly shaped eyebrow crooked like she was a scientist pointing out the flaws in an experiment, lips pursed. When they met eyes, Catra looked away instantly. Coughed. Adora’s mouth became extremely dry, all of a sudden.

“So you were valedictorian?” Adora asked, still a bit too loud.

“No. Salutatorian. Valedictorian went to the military ‘cause she was too broke to pay for university and didn’t get a good enough scholarship. In case you forgot, kids at Horde High aren’t rich like your friends from Etheria Prep.”

“You’re here with me, though,” Adora pointed out.

Catra shrugged. “I got lucky.” Pushing the rest of her burrito bowl away, she pulled out her laptop, motioning Adora to do the same. “I don’t have all day, you know. Let’s get this done.”

“Okay,” Adora agreed, propping open her Macbook Air. “Wait- who was the other person from Horde High who came here? Lonnie?”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio all went to community college. Cheap. No, it was Scorpia.”

_Scorpia._ Maybe Adora had forgotten more about her past than she’d like to admit, because it took her a disappointing amount of time before she could put a face to the name. Tall, bulky, undercut that was always dyed white, definitely a lesbian. “Oh. Are you guys, um, close?” 

Catra tutted. “I’m sure quizzing me about my shitty life is very entertaining for you, but I really just want to get this over with. What did Spinnerella say we needed to get done this week, exactly?”

“Uh. She said… she said… let me find the syllabus on Canvas.” Adora ducked Catra’s gaze and began clicking away. “Damn it, I’m not connected to the WiFi here. Sorry, gimme a sec…” 

In the following awkward silence that Adora was too preoccupied to fill, Catra almost-laughed, quietly, seemingly to herself. “Scorpia and I live together.”

It took only seconds for Adora to realize the implications of that.

“Oh! That’s great! That’s great!” Adora grinned, squeezing as much energy as she had left into the smile in order to make it seem genuine. “That’s great. Glad you guys are happy together. Oh, look at that, I’m connected now. I’ll just find the syllabus and…”

“She’s not my girlfriend, though.” Catra was gazing at her, blue and amber eyes trained squarely on her face, a crooked smile pulling at one of the corners of her lips. Like a cat watching a particularly amusing mouse. 

“I never thought that,” Adora responded defensively. “Anyway, weren’t you the one who told me to stop with the small talk and to start working?”

“Yeah, let’s start working.” But Catra was fully smiling now, satisfied. As if she’d won. She always, always knew how to get under Adora’s skin. “What’s on the agenda?”

“Okay, it says here that we need to figure out what genre we want to focus on as well as come up with the character profile of our protagonist. Or protagonists.”

Catra chewed on her lip. “Ever read _Persepolis_?”

“No, but I’ve heard of it.”

“Let’s write something like that. Gritty, you know? Utilize the medium of a graphic novel in a unique way to depict real lives.”

“Why does everything have to be dark and depressing with you?” Catra’s thoughtful expression instantly morphed into a glare at that. “Why not write something light and playful? Like fantasy. Superheroes? Elves? Fun stuff like that.”

“Are you five or something? _Superheroes?”_ Adora wondered if Catra’s insult was just that, an empty insult, or from memory, because Adora had actually been obsessed with superheroes and fantasy as a kid. She’d roped Catra into it, too; whenever Ms. Weaver had been out of the house they’d played make-believe. Catra liked to play the villain sometimes; other times she’d- grudgingly- agreed to let Adora ‘save’ her.

(She hadn’t told Catra this, but back then, Adora had wished she could save Catra for real, over and over again, for as long as it took until Catra was safe and happy forever.)

“I just think, you know, our lives already suck enough as it is. Why add onto it by writing something dark and realistic or whatever?”

Catra rolled her eyes. “How, exactly, does your life suck? You have it fucking _made_. I bet Angella pays for your way through college. I bet you live in the nicest apartment complex near university. Bright Moon Suites, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Then what are you complaining about exactly, princess?” Catra slammed her laptop shut. “Library too mildewy for your taste? Macbook Air not the newest, sleekest version? Didn’t save up enough to buy a new pair of Gucci sneakers this month?”

“Keep it down, ladies!” the librarian commanded from her desk. 

“Sorry!” Adora called out immediately, even though she hadn’t been the one to yell. Catra threw the woman a filthy look before zeroing back in on Adora. 

“Well?” Catra continued, softer but just as lethal.

“No. You’re right. I have nothing to complain about and my life is great. Happy?” Adora retorted in a harsh whisper. 

The look on Catra’s face indicated she was not, in fact, happy at all. But all she did was sigh through her nose. “Okay, that was stupid. Let’s just move on. I don’t have time to argue with you over something as pointless as this project, so let’s just go with your version.”

Adora recognized this from years and years from being at Catra’s side. This was Catra’s form of appeasement, or as close as Catra was willing to get. Like the time Catra had punched Adora too hard accidentally when they were in the sixth grade, and instead of apologizing had left two slightly sticky gummy bears- green apple, Adora’s favorite- on Adora’s desk.

The memory made her smile. “How about this? We can compromise.”

“Our ideas are kind of opposites of each other, Adora. I know you’re a big science nerd and suck at English, but this isn’t the kind of thing you compromise on.” 

“No, shut up for a second and listen. You want something gritty and realistic, I want fantasy. So what if our protagonist has a tragic backstory, but they end up being a superhero?”

Catra laughed, remembering to be quiet this time. “So, Batman.”

“First of all, Batman didn’t have powers, that was his whole shtick. Second, no! Come on, Catra, I might be dumb but you’re not. We can think of a protagonist with a gritty, realistic backstory and tie it into superpowers. I bet they could even feed off of each other, like maybe she was abused as a kid and it makes her want to protect other people.”

“She?” Catra echoed, and in her eyes Adora saw years of broken things and shattered promises. Promises Adora had broken. Things that Catra had shattered in her subsequent rage and grief.

“She,” Adora repeated, definitively.

Catra breathed out, a little unsteady. “Then maybe there should be two protagonists.”

“Maybe one can be named Adora and one can be named Catrina.”

Catra made a face. “I hate my real name. Literally no one uses it. It’s only on legal documents.”

Adora smiled, bittersweet. There was a time when only Adora called Catra by that nickname. “I guess Catra does sound more fantasy-like, anyway.”

The next couple of hours went by much more quickly. They argued quite a bit: Catra decided that she wanted to be a villain, but Adora managed to whittle her down to agreeing to antihero status and being redeemed before the end of the story. Adora wanted a rainbow unicorn, which Catra was disgusted by, and Catra wanted a shapeshifting shadow cat familiar, which Adora thought was way too creepy. 

The one thing they did agree on, though, was the name for the mother figure in their two main characters’ lives.

“Shadow Weaver,” Catra had suggested, a slight growl to her voice. It was perfect. Neither of them brought up Ms. Weaver. Adora had been furiously typing away notes the whole time while they brainstormed. The final document for their assignment was three full pages, which was probably way more than Dr. Spinnerella expected, but oh well.

They were the last ones to leave the library, at half past ten. As they walked out onto the quad together, Catra turned to Adora.

“Look, uh.” Catra’s voice was soft and hesitant, and Adora suspected that if it had been daylight she’d have been able to see a slight blush on Catra’s face. “I really, really hate to ask this of you, but the Bright Moon shuttles don’t go to Target, and I need to stop by. I know you came in a car. Do you mind, uh-”

“Sure! Sure, no problem.” Adora was suddenly grateful for the night hiding their faces, because her grin was much too large considering the context of the situation. “I can drive you.”

“Thanks,” Catra said curtly.

“Um, why do you need to go to Target so late, though?”

“None of your business,” Catra snapped, then breathed in deeply as if trying to physically reel it back in. “I mean. I just need to get groceries. I promised-” and she abruptly stopped talking.

Adora decided not to push. She’d already gotten further with Catra today than she could have ever imagined in her wildest dreams. “That’s my car,” she announced, pointing at Glimmer’s powder-blue BMW with the car keys and clicking to unlock the doors.

“Why am I not surprised,” Catra deadpanned.

“Hey, wait!” Adora put her hands on her hips indignantly. “Okay, look, it’s not really _my_ car, it’s my friend’s. But also, what’s wrong with a BMW?”

Catra just shook her head. Under the streetlights of the parking lot, Adora could see she was smiling, though. “Fuckin’ rich kids. I can’t stand any of you.”

Adora couldn’t help but smile at that, too.

“I call DJ,” Catra demanded as soon as she swung herself into the front seat. 

“It’s a ten-minute drive.”

“Ten minutes of you being blessed with my incredible music taste, you mean.”

“Okay,” Adora laughed, “show me what you got, Flores, because last I remember in high school, you only listened to like, My Chemical Romance.”

“Nah, that was back when I was an angsty teen. I’m into EDM these days.” And she proved it by blaring drumstep and electropop the whole way to Target.

Once they’d arrived, Catra paused the music. Before getting out of the car, she turned to Adora, seemingly steeling herself for what she was about to say. 

“You aren’t dumb, by the way.”

Adora’s eyebrows furrowed. “Huh?”

“I mean, yes, you’re an idiot, but you aren’t actually stupid. If you were then you wouldn’t be at BMU, it’s one of the best universities in the country. So shut up about that and stop calling yourself dumb.”

When Adora kept staring at her, confused, Catra groaned. “You said earlier. In the library. That you were dumb and stuff.”

“Oh.” Another too-large grin threatened to break out on Adora’s face. “Thanks.”

“Whatever.” Catra got out of the car and didn’t look back. 

But later that night, Adora got the first text she’d gotten from Catra in three years.

_Catra: hey adora_

Adora hugged her phone to her chest tightly and couldn’t stop smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

“Scorpia?”

“Oh, hi Catra.” Scorpia’s eyes briefly flitted to Catra’s before once again looking away. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

“What are you doing?” Catra frowned up at her roommate blearily. Scorpia was hefting her desk onto her shoulder, balancing a bulging bag of clothes on the other. 

“Oh, um- give me a second-” She set down both items with surprising grace. “Just moving things around! No big deal. You should probably go back to sleep. It’s only nine. Financial Accounting is much later, right?”

“No, it’s fine. Do you, uh, want any help?” Catra had to force the last few words out as she rubbed her eyes and sat up.

Ever since Catra had blown off Scorpia’s date, with the quick explanation over text at 6:40 pm that ‘ _sorry i have schoolwork with a friend’_ , things had, well, changed.

Scorpia’s only response had been, “ _Oh. Okay.”_ If she’d been anyone else, anyone with at least a tiny bit of a mean streak, Catra should’ve gotten an essay for how shitty it was of her to cancel on a weeks-planned date with twenty minutes to spare. 

But it was Scorpia. Scorpia, who was too nice to kill spiders and caught them to release outside. Scorpia, who had never once raised her voice at Catra, despite Catra having yelled at her many, many times over.

So instead of a fight, it had been this weird… coolness. Catra couldn’t even call it cold, because Scorpia was never rude. Just distant and yet friendly at the same time. Before, Scorpia would always wake her up for class, but Catra was finding herself depending on her phone alarm more and more. 

And now it looked like she was outright moving out of their shared bedroom.

“Where are you moving all your stuff to?” Catra asked, attempting to keep her voice neutral. 

“Oh, I just thought everyone would be more comfortable if I started sharing with Entrapta instead.” Scorpia smiled at her, the cheerfulness definitely forced but the politeness entirely genuine.

“And Entrapta’s okay with that?” Scorpia must have paid her off a huge amount for her to okay this. Entrapta needed a lot of space to tinker with her projects, and an extra human would definitely make that much more difficult.

“Yeah, we had, um, a long talk about it a few days ago. It took a little bit of convincing, but we worked it out in the end! So I just figured I’d get started on moving things out ahead of time.”

Which was code for, _I am now so uncomfortable around you that I was willing to argue with one of the most obstinate and difficult to understand people on Earth, as well as pay them off, in order to not spend so much time around you._

Catra grit her teeth. Stupid, annoying, Adora, ruining everything once again. But it really wasn’t Adora’s fault this time, was it? It was hers. Because even now, three years later, Catra still couldn’t stop chasing after that blonde idiot. 

Fuck.

“Scorpia, I’m-” The _sorry_ got caught in her throat as Scorpia turned to look at her, halfway through the door with her stuff. “I can cook breakfast for us,” Catra finished lamely.

“Really?” Scorpia’s eyes brightened. “That’d be great! I’ll tell Entrapta!” 

“Great.”

“Great!” Scorpia swung the door closed behind her with her foot, accidentally using too much force so that it slammed.

Catra had been the last person to buy groceries, when she’d gone on the Target run after that dumb project date with Adora. There was enough to make three breakfast burritos, though admittedly ones that were somewhat devoid of ingredients. She could do breakfast burritos. Coffee too, which she definitely needed for Financial Accounting. 

Today was the first week of _real_ classes, and they were being assigned their first presentation. Without coffee, she doubted she’d have the energy to deal with whichever moron she got stuck with. 

While scrambling eggs, her mind rifled through the potential topics. It was the first presentation, so it should be easy, basic stuff, right? The professor wouldn’t throw any hardballs at the class. Life had already thrown her a massive Adora-shaped hardball this semester, so hopefully at least Financial Accounting wouldn’t be too much of a headache. At least if the topic was easy, even if she got an absolute idiot as a partner she could just do the whole presentation on her own. 

Brooding over Financial Accounting and Scorpia and Adora took up the rest of her morning, which meant it felt like only a matter of minutes until she’d actually reached the business school building for her first class. 

Sitting in the back, as per her custom, she noted with displeasure that the girl with the stupid pink hair was once again sitting next to her. At least this time the girl didn’t attempt pleasantries. Scowling, she faced the front as their professor stepped to the lectern and began to lecture.

Staring ahead, Catra mindlessly took notes and thought about how her professor’s wrinkly old bald head resembled something _very_ not safe for work, and had to hold in a snort of laughter.

“Okay,” her Financial Accounting professor finally said. “Sort yourselves into partners for your first presentation. Make it quick, we only have ten minutes left in class.”

Catra looked around, and to her dismay everyone seemed to already be coupling up with their friends. The only other one who was frantically looking around was the pink-haired girl, who seemed to realize this at the same time Catra did. 

Mouth twisting in displeasure, the girl walked up to Catra. “I’m Glimmer Moon. Looks like we’re stuck together for this stupid presentation, so let’s get this over with.”

Catra had to suppress a smirk- Glimmer sounded just like Catra herself. “Sounds good. Let’s go to the prof to receive our topic.”

Glimmer frowned. “You’re not gonna be a dick about it? Cause you were totally a dick last class.”

“Would you prefer that? Because I can easily do that too.”

“ _Ugh,_ ” Glimmer fumed, and stormed past Catra to the front of the room. Now openly smirking, Catra followed. As they fell in line with the other students, Glimmer turned to her, a hostile glint in her eye still clearly visible. “Hang on. What’s your name? You never told me.”

“I’m Catra. Catra Flores.”

“Wait. C-Catra?” Glimmer’s heavily eyeshadow-ladened eyes opened wide.

“Yeah, why?” Catra’s hackles rose instantly. “Got a problem with that?”

“No, it’s… nothing.” Glimmer pressed her lips together. “It’s a nice name. Kinda unusual, but nice.”

“You’re one to talk, Sparkles.”

“ _Glimmer._ ”

Catra stuck her tongue out at her new partner instead of responding as they turned to their professor to get their topic.

  
  


“EBITDA.” Glimmer sounded out the syllables carefully.

“Congrats, you know how to pronounce the topic of our presentation,” Catra said dryly. 

“I also know what it stands for,” Glimmer retorted. “Equity Before Interest, Taxes, Debt, and… shit.”

“Wow, you really suck at this.” The insult was delivered very matter-of-factly. Glimmer glowered at her. “It’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” 

“Yeah, well, I know you’re looking at the Investopedia page for it, so shut up, you can’t act like you’re better than me about this.”

“No, I’m not.” Catra turned her laptop screen around to show Glimmer. Then she smirked. “I _was_ looking at the Investopedia page for it.” 

“You are such a douche, Catra.”

“Takes one to know one.” Catra didn’t even look up from her screen this time. “Look, this thing only has to be five to ten minutes. If we bust our balls we can probably finish the whole thing during this lunch break.”

It was the lunch break right after their class. Seven minutes had passed since the two of them had sat down at a table in the library, take-out from the dining hall in hand, and so far neither of them had been particularly productive.

In Catra’s defense, that was mostly Glimmer’s fault. So far, she had learned that Glimmer was half Korean from her dad’s side, was the president of the Korean Student Association at BMU, and was bisexual. _Very_ bisexual, whatever that meant.

This last fact about Glimmer was the only one Catra had responded to. “Cool, I’m a lesbian,” had been her offhand response. Glimmer had visibly brightened.

“Oh my god really? That’s so great!”

“Is it?” Catra had tilted her head patronizingly. “Why, exactly?”

“Because men are trash,” had been Glimmer’s simple response, and Catra couldn’t help but give her credit for that.

What Catra had _not_ learned in the past seven minutes was anything about EBITDA, or at least not enough that would fill a five to ten minute presentation.

“I’m honestly surprised you don’t know more about it, Sparkles.” Catra kicked back in her chair, stretching luxuriously.

“ _Don’t_ call me that,” Glimmer huffed, “and secondly, how the hell would I know anything about this? I’m a sophomore too, you know.”

“Your name, duh. Glimmer _Moon_. Like Moon Group? Only the third biggest conglomerate in this entire country? Shouldn’t your rich ass parents have tutored you in all this finance shit?”

Glimmer’s expression hurtled straight from annoyance to something much worse than that. “If you know so much about my family’s company, you should know that my dad’s dead. So, _sorry_ I didn’t have parents teaching me ‘all this finance shit’.”

“Oh,” was Catra’s limp response. Then, some stupid impulse made her blurt, “My dad’s dead too, probably. So’s my mom.”

“Oh,” Glimmer echoed. She leaned forward towards Catra, for what purpose Catra wasn’t entirely sure, but then stopped herself. Instead, she smiled at Catra, genuine. “It’s hard to find people who really understand.”

Catra’s mouth set in a thin line. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Amazingly, Glimmer respected that, and moved on. Her tone was much more businesslike as she instructed, “Let’s split up the work. I’ll work on an elaborate definition of what EBITDA is, and compare it to other measures of financial performance. You can work on thinking up an example of how you’d use EBITDA.”

“Yeah, I’ll pretend to be a private equity company looking to acquire some smaller business and calculate EBITDA for them,” Catra elaborated. 

Glimmer looked up from her laptop. “You’re interested in private equity?”

“Yeah, why?”

The other girl shrugged. “Dunno. You seemed more of the investment banker type. Hedge fund manager. That sort of thing.”

Catra wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want to spend my whole life telling old white people how to spend their money.”

Glimmer giggled. “Yeah, but telling old white people how to spend their money makes you hella rich.”

“Nah. I like taking risks. Holding the power.”

Glimmer nodded approvingly. “You sound like you’d make a good CEO. Maybe you should come work for the family company.”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Anyway, if we don't have time to rehearse today, I don’t mind meeting up some other lunchtime to rehearse properly. We have a whole week to finish this thing, anyway. Might as well do it right.”

“Okay. You want my number?” Glimmer was already holding her hand out for Catra’s phone. Catra surrendered it and watched warily as Glimmer typed in her contact.

Catra was honestly surprised at how friendly she herself was acting. She was pretty sure she’d hated this pink-haired girl forty minutes ago. But Glimmer was the first person Catra had met in a while who had a bit of backbone to her. A little fire. It was a quality Catra couldn’t help but respect, or even dare to say, like. Not that she’d ever say that to Glimmer’s face.

Then, as had been par for the course for the past week, her thoughts returned to Adora. She wondered how Adora and Glimmer would get along, if they ever met. They’d probably be friends, because everyone liked Adora. 

Except Catra, of course.

_Catra: hey loser_

_Adora: Hey!!_

_Catra: who gets that excited about being called a loser_

_Catra: anyways_

_Catra: aren’t we supposed to meet up today for that stupid project?? we agreed on wednesday_

_Adora: Aww you remembered_

_Adora: I feel so loved_

_Catra: watch it_

_Adora: Okay okay_

_Adora: Yeah, today works_

_Adora: I’m a bit busy though so could we push til night again_

_Catra: busy with what_

_Catra: reading the latest edition of ‘Lamest Hairstyles’?_

_Catra: attending the inaugural meeting of ‘BMU Virgins Club’?_

_Adora: Lol you think I’m a virgin_

_Catra: i don’t care about your sex life_

_Adora: You’re the one who brought it up not me_

_Adora: :)))_

_Catra: so when? 10? 12?_

_Adora: 10-12 works for me_

_Adora: Where though_

_Adora: Mystacor again?_

_Catra: for a nerd you don’t know jack about our libraries_

_Catra: Mystacor’s closed this week_

_Catra: some frat was doing hazing in there at 3 am last week_

_Catra: set off a firework or something_

_Catra: pretty epic from what i heard, lots of injuries_

_Adora: Glad to see you still describe violence and destruction as ‘epic’_

_Adora: Let’s just talk about it in class today_

_Adora: We can probably get some of it done during class hours too_

_Catra: good then we don’t have to see each other afterward_

_Adora: Oh_

_Adora: You don’t wanna see me?_

_Catra: it isn’t like you’re dying to see me either_

_Adora: I never said that_

_Catra: whatever_

During class, unfortunately, Dr. Spinnerella spent the whole time lecturing from their ridiculous textbook _‘Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean’_. If the room hadn’t been blasting AC, Catra would’ve fallen asleep then and there. She suspected that was the precise reason why the AC was being blasted.

When their professor cheerily dismissed class Adora caught Catra by the wrist before Catra could leave. 

“What?” Catra snapped.

“Do you… maybe… want to come over to our place?” Adora’s cheeks were tinged pink. “I live with a couple friends. They’re named, um, Bow and Glimmer. Don’t know if you’ve seen them around or anything. Maybe Glimmer? Since she’s in marketing?”

“Glimmer?” Catra repeated in surprise, quickly arresting her expression before Adora could notice. So _that_ was why Glimmer had freaked out so much when she’d realized who Catra was. With a spike of trepidation, she wondered what exactly Adora had told Bow and Glimmer about Catra. “Stupid name,” she finished, quickly, as a save.

Adora crossed her arms. “It’s not stupid. And, look, it’s just- I checked. Mystacor is out and the other library at BMU is booked for some big event tonight. Unless you want to do it at like, a bar, we don’t really have a lot of options.”

Catra sighed very heavily through her nose. “You could come to my place.”

“I could?! I mean-” Adora straightened her shoulders and rearranged her dorky little smile into a indifferent frown- “I could?”

Catra rolled her eyes. “You’re annoying as hell.”

_Adora: Hey um_

_Adora: So it’s 9ish and I know we agreed on meeting at 10 but you know my anxiety and stuff_

_Adora: Could you send me the address so I can drive over_

_Catra: wya rn_

_Adora: Huh??_

_Adora: I’m still at the uni_

_Adora: BMU Premed Association meets tonight and I’m the vice president so_

_Catra: let’s link in front of the bschool in thirty min_

_Catra: i’ll give u directions_

_Catra: i assume u brought ur friend’s uglyass car?_

_Adora: Yeah_

_Adora: Wait why are you still here though?_

_Adora: Night classes?_

_Catra: none of ur business_

_Catra: go back to doing ur nerd shit with ur other nerd loser friends_

Adora was already waiting for Catra when Catra walked over to the business school building, because of course she was. The bright white glow of the streetlights made her blonde hair glint like strands of silver. Not that Catra found that remotely interesting or noteworthy. 

“Did you eat?” Catra asked, in lieu of a greeting.

“Don’t worry about me,” Adora answered right as her stomach growled. 

Catra laughed openly. “You never change, do you. We can get Cajun style wings from this place nearby my apartment.”

“Okay,” Adora replied. “I’m paying, though.”

“Fine. I wasn’t gonna eat any of them anyway. Is that BMW your friend Glimmer’s?” Catra asked as they walked toward the parking lot. 

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing. Matches her name, is all.” Catra was already thinking of ways to tease Glimmer about it. “I’m playing music again, by the way.”

“I wasn’t even gonna try to fight you on it, don’t worry.” Most of Adora’s face and body was cast in shadow, but Catra could still distinctly see her roll her eyes.

“You’re just jealous of my taste.”

“I’m not a fan of EDM.”

“I wasn’t going to play EDM this time. I was going to play Ariana Grande’s new album. Been meaning to check it out.”

“Oh.” Adora’s eyebrows rose, followed quickly by a conspiratorial grin. “Now that I could get behind.”

The ride to the Cajun wing place was uneventful, apart from Adora singing along to Ariana Grande while being very off-key. Catra’s pleadings for her to stop had no effect on the evil blonde in the driver’s seat. Once they’d arrived at Catra’s place, an unholy amount of wings in tow, Catra watched as Adora’s eyes grew round.

“It’s so dark here,” Adora commented.

“Sorry I live in an area that isn’t quite as upper class as your suite with your rich private school friends,” Catra sneered.

“No, I-” Adora put a hand on Catra’s shoulder, placating. “I like it. It reminds me of home.”

 _Home._ The dilapidated foster home they’d grown up in. The shitty public school. Horde High. The grimy old basketball court out back behind an abandoned lot. The memories flashed through Catra’s brain like a fast-forwarded film reel. 

“You miss that place?” Catra asked incredulously. 

“I miss some of the people from there,” Adora replied, looking at Catra steadily. Her gaze made something shift in Catra’s stomach, which she decided to ignore.

“Well,” Catra said, averting her eyes, “it didn’t seem like it, since you left in such a hurry.”

Before Adora had the chance to respond, they were interrupted by Scorpia and Entrapta in the hallway. 

“Hey, Catra!” Scorpia smiled at her, as bright as ever. Catra watched as her expression fell flat the second she saw Adora. “...Oh. Hey, Adora. Long time no see.”

“Hey,” Adora said, awkwardly waving. Knowing her, Adora was probably rifling through every social interaction she’d ever had with Scorpia to figure out why Scorpia was speaking to her so coolly. 

“So, uh, what brings you two over to our apartment?” Scorpia asked. Then her face fell even further. “Are you guys, uh…da-?”

“No! _No._ ” Catra’s intent was to stop that particular Scorpia-train-of-thought before Adora could figure out what Scorpia was intending to say, but based on how Adora had gone positively red, she’d failed. “We’re working on a project for our class. Like I told you.”

“Well! Have fun, you two!” Entrapta said cheerfully, clearly both oblivious and uncaring regarding the awkwardness.

“...Yeah, have fun.” Scorpia smiled again, clearly unconvinced by what Catra’d said. Even though it’d been the _truth_. God damn it. Adora stood in place as if rooted to the ground as Scorpia and Entrapta walked past them down the hallway. 

Once they were safely out of earshot, Adora piped up, “Why does Scorpia think we’re together?”

“Because she’s stupid,” Catra retorted flatly. “End of discussion. Just- eat the wings and shut up.”

Adora chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

While Adora was inhaling the Cajun wings at Catra’s desk, Catra was curled up on her bed, laptop on her lap. They’d been figuring how to format the graphic novel; their professor had sent out a folder filled with acceptable formats and fonts.

“Ugh. Why is Comic Sans on here?” Catra stretched her arms back and made a face at her screen.

“For people with dyslexia,” Adora answered almost immediately, muffled through what appeared to be her twelfth wing. “Mmph- Apparently they can read it more easily.” She swallowed, and let out a burp, patting her stomach.

“Gross,” Catra commented. “How’d you know about the dyslexia thing? Doesn’t seem like something you’d be nerdy about.”

“Bow told me once.” Wiping her fingers on the napkin the wing place had provided, Adora took a swig of Sprite. “We need to plan out the first few chapters today, right? Have you been thinking about how to organize it?”

“Yeah. So, Adora finds the sword, right? And that’s when she gets her powers. I was thinking we should start the story there.”

The real Adora nodded approvingly. “Action-packed. I like it.”

“But I think establishing backstories and laying out the foundation of the plot is important too. So how do we incorporate that?”

Adora opened her mouth to speak, but Catra waved her off. “Oh, I got it. Catra can precipitate the conflict by being the reason why Adora finds the sword. Like maybe they run away together from Shadow Weaver and go on some kind of stupid teenage rebellion joyride.”

Her old friend smiled wistfully. “I seem to remember the real Catra doing something similar when she was fourteen.”

“Hah. Yeah.” It had happened the day Adora had been made captain of the Horde High junior varsity girls’ basketball team. Neither of them at the time had acknowledged that Catra had been vying for the position too. “You were so chickenshit about it.”

“It was _dangerous!_ ” Adora sputtered. “We could’ve gotten seriously hurt.”

“On a _Vespa_? Come on. I never even drove fast.”

“You still ran into a pole though.”

“Yeah, and we were fine. No one was brain damaged, even if you act like you were.”

“Hey! I do not act brain damaged.”

Catra snorted, deigning to even argue with that. “Besides, what matters is that I showed you a good time. Bet you didn’t have that much fun playing lacrosse or whatever rich kid sport, or getting taken to prom by your bratty boyfriend in the Porsche his daddy bought him.”

Adora shook her head at that. “Catra, I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

Catra raised an eyebrow. “Thought you said you weren’t a virgin. And you seem way too prissy and neurotic for casual sex.”

Adora bristled. “I do too have casual sex. I can be totally casual! But, like, not with dudes.”

Catra felt herself blushing once the implication hit her. “You never told me you were gay.”

“I didn’t realize until I was sixteen. That’s when I came out to everyone.”

There was a sinking feeling in Catra’s chest now, even though it really had no right to be there. “You didn’t realize ‘til after you left me, huh? Lots of pretty girls at Etheria Prep?”

“No! No, it wasn’t like that.” Adora waved her hands frantically as if to emphasize her point. “I mean, I guess I always suspected a little? It’s just, I never really allowed myself to think about it-”

“You were the first person I told,” Catra said, attempting to hide the tone of accusation in her voice and failing miserably.

“Yeah,” and Adora was smiling at her now, a little sadly, “but you’ve always been the braver one between the two of us, Catra.”

Catra took in a shaky little breath at that. She bit down, hard, on her lip to prevent any more emotions from being expressed. Because getting emotional over this was ridiculous. “Okay, let’s stop wasting time and get back to the project.”

“Okay,” Adora agreed affably. There was a dopey grin on her face that Catra wanted to claw off. They spent the next hour writing out the storyline for the first two chapters, from when the Adora in the story found the Sword of Protection through when Shadow Weaver ditched the Horde in order to go after Adora.

This final plot point had made Adora wince when Catra suggested it. “This hits pretty close to home,” she commented softly.

Catra smiled bitterly at that. “How many times did Weaver try to track you down?”

“Only once,” Adora admitted. “About a week after I, uh, left. Angella got the police involved. She never tried again. Glimmer especially was pretty pissed about the whole thing. Never heard anyone as small and innocent-looking as her make so many death threats.”

A sudden jolt of realization hit Catra, and she wanted to slap herself for not realizing it earlier. “Glimmer is Angella’s daughter, isn’t she?”

Adora blinked, confused. “How do you know? Have you guys met?”

“Does it matter?” Catra retorted dismissively. “I just put two and two together. Glimmer seems decently rich, and I know Angella had to be rich if she could afford to just pluck some poor underprivileged kid out of a broken home and give her a fairytale life.”

“Well… yeah.” Adora shrugged. “I met Bow and Glimmer at an away game at Etheria Prep back when I played junior varsity for Horde High. They weren’t on the basketball team, they were on the sports council, but they were the only kids who were actually nice to me. We’ve been close ever since.”

“Well.” Catra deliberately was looking anywhere but at Adora now. “They must be pretty special, to be able to keep you around for this long.” Her voice wavered slightly at the last few words, which she hated herself for.

Adora got up from her chair at this, and for a moment Catra thought she might yell, but instead she sat down next to Catra on her bed. Placed a careful hand on Catra’s knee. Catra tensed.

“I know you don’t want to talk about this. I know you blocked me for your reasons. And… and I’ve come to terms with that. I came to terms with letting you go. But don’t ever think it was because you weren’t special. You’re incredible, Catra. You always have been.”

Catra laughed hollowly. “You always used to beat me in everything, but you still say that? Sports, grades… you were always number one. And me? I was just a shadow of you. Everyone said so.”

Adora shook her head. “Do you remember when I gave you two hundred bucks on your thirteenth birthday? And how I wouldn’t tell you how I got it?”

Catra’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, why? I assumed it was just Weaver lavishing you with a massive allowance, or something.”

  
“Ha, no. I’d need to save up for years. No, uh. I submitted one of your essays to a literary magazine that was having a contest. I tried to get you to do it, but you didn’t want to because you didn’t have the confidence. So I did it on my own. You won second place. I didn’t tell you because, well, I figured…”

“That I’d be mad you did it?” Catra finished for her. “Yeah, I would’ve been. Why are you telling me this now?”

“To prove that you’ve always been special.” Adora’s wide eyes looked so earnest now that they were too difficult to look at. “And, honestly? You don’t need me to tell you that. I just… I hope whoever you’re close to now reminds you how incredible you are, because you deserve it.”

“This is getting uncomfortably sappy,” Catra commented, because there was a lump in her throat that definitely should not be there. The stillness in the atmosphere broke, and Adora laughed freely. 

“Yeah, okay, Flores,” she jibed. “It’s past midnight and we got a lot of work done, so I’m going to head off. We can finalize the rest online and I can submit our work on Canvas. Thanks for introducing me to those bomb-ass wings, though.”

“Living in the shittier part of town does have its benefits,” Catra responded. “You know the way out right? I don’t need to babysit you.”

“Mm-hmm.” Adora slid her arms into her jacket sleeves. “See you around, Catra.”

“See you around.” 

The second Catra heard the door close gently behind Adora, she immediately leapt up. 

After midnight was when Catra truly came alive. She unlocked her desk drawer, where a burner phone was waiting with thirty-three unread messages. Catra always had a policy of responding to clients first; after all, the customer is king. She was in the process of responding to a junior who was in desperate need of her services when she was interrupted by an incoming call from her real phone still sitting on her bed.

“I told you not to call me on this phone,” she growled into the phone.

“You’re so bossy, though, kitten,” her partner whined, “it’s hard to keep track of all your rules. I thought we were in this to have fun.”

“I’m not in this for fun. I’m doing this to make _money_.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself at night,” Double Trouble purred. “I’m calling you because we have a new plug who’s willing to sell us uppers at quite the decent price. Mostly Adderall, but also a bit of Dexedrine.”

“Did you schedule a meet-up already? I’m busy organizing a different project right now. I don’t think I can go if you scheduled it for tonight.”

“Ooh, what’s the project? Do tell.”

“Three juniors all in Human Physiology are requesting help on a take-home quiz due this week. I need to find someone willing to do all three quizzes, but write them in a way so that they’re _just_ distinct enough to avoid getting caught for academic dishonesty.”

“Oh, that _does_ sound tricky.” Double Trouble tittered. “It’s fine, I can meet the plug tonight by myself. On one condition.”

Catra groaned. “Ugh. Spit it out.”

“We have to hook up.”

“No fucking way,” Catra spat. 

“I was _joking_ ,” Double Trouble replied, affecting a hurt tone. “Though I will say that’s surprising, considering what you and I did during that one particular party last year. No, what I really want is a higher cut.”

Catra was silent for a moment, considering. “No more than sixty.”

“Seventy,” Double Trouble countered. God, their name sounded so stupid.

“Sixty-five, and that’s final.”

“You drive a hard bargain, kitten, but very well,” Double Trouble acquiesced. “His prices are decent and the students at your school are lazy, so I’m thinking around a four hundred percent markup. How does that sound?”

“Fine. Are we done calling? I need to get back to this.”

“You know, I love our banter,” her partner replied, a flirty lilt to their words that Catra knew was designed to annoy her. “I missed you over the summer. Good luck on your end. I’ll text you after the meetup letting you know how it went.”

“Text me on my _other_ phone-!” Catra retorted sharply, but the line had already gone dead. With a huff of irritation, she turned back to her burner phone.

There was one person who immediately came to mind, regarding who could work on the Human Phys quizzes. Catra knew nothing about them: that was part of the deal. The less everyone in her network knew about each other, the better. That way, if one part of the operation was exposed, Catra could cut her losses and move on. But a tree with a thick, interconnected network of roots? 

That tree could be easily yanked out and destroyed for good. 

She texted her potential writer and leaned back in her chair, waiting for a response. She got one half an hour later.

_price?_ they asked.

 _$60 each_ , Catra responded immediately. $ _40 for each one goes to you._

Which was a lie. BMU students were spoiled, rich brats, and ones that relied on cheating were exponentially more so. One junior had offered her a hundred bucks for this single quiz, the other a hundred fifteen, and the final one a whopping _two hundred dollars_ . For a _single_ quiz. Who the hell had that kind of money?

God, she hated Bright Moon.

Her anonymous writer, however, was in no position to argue. After all, academic dishonesty wasn’t exactly a stable, regulated market. 

_ok,_ they responded. _i’ll send it in by tomorrow. you can check over the files to make sure they’re distinct enough._

 _i’ll venmo you once i get the money_ , Catra texted back. _expect payment by next week._

The troubling aspect about being a middleman was that the buyers- in this case, stupid rich BMU kids- could always just buy straight from the suppliers. Catra was insulated from this problem with two simple facts. 

Fact one: stupid rich BMU kids were far too lazy to trawl the Internet or ask around for help on how to cheat effectively. The key to academic dishonesty was that the product had to be _good_ , because otherwise there really was no point. Finding genuinely smart kids with no morals was hard, or at least too hard for the morons Catra attended university with. None of them knew who Catra was, but people knew of Catra’s network and that everyone she ‘employed’ was properly vetted. 

Fact two: the smart kids with no morals who supplied the cheating materials were usually desperate and broke, working two jobs to painfully claw out of the hole of debt BMU’s tuition had thrown them in. People who were that exhausted didn’t have time to find rich stupid kids who wanted their services. Or if they did, then they usually risked being caught, because they hadn’t covered their tracks well enough. 

Still, Catra was always on edge. She never allowed the two factions to interact. All communication went through her. Double Trouble was the only person she’d agreed to partner with; everyone else who’d asked had been turned down. And she’d only agreed to partner with Double Trouble because they were better at acquiring and pushing drugs than Catra was. She still didn’t trust Double Trouble farther than she could throw them.

She texted her three clients, who all responded with relatively similar expressions of relief. A smile curling on her lips, she opened her checking account on her phone. Only a week of the semester had passed, and she’d already had a cash influx of $126. And that number would increase dramatically as the semester went on and classes became more intense. 

Last year, she’d used the money from cheating to scrounge up her portion of the deposit for her, Scorpia’s, and Entrapta’s apartment, and as her income grew more steady she’d quit her job at Chipotle and used the cash from her new operation instead. But now it was growing bigger and better than ever, and more opportunities than ever were coming up. An actually decent laptop, maybe. A chair with decent lumbar support. She could invest in Tesla, or Alphabet, or hell, in Pornhub. 

An image of Adora saying ‘ _You’re incredible, Catra’_ sprang unbidden to Catra’s mind. She laughed lowly to herself. She doubted Adora would be saying anything of the sort if she knew what Catra was up to now. 

But that didn’t matter. Because Adora wasn’t a part of her life. Letting her back in because of sweet nothings about how ‘incredible’ Catra was would be stupid. It was a mistake she’d made once, and it was one she wouldn’t repeat.

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

“Quiz me!” Adora begged.

“On what?” Bow looked up from where he was scrolling through his tablet, curled up on the sofa. “I can help if it’s Calc II. I took it first semester of freshman year, but I think my memory’s still fresh enough to remember most of the important stuff.”

Adora bit hard into her apple as she glared down at her textbook, flicking between the pages. “No, it’s Immunology. My exam’s tomorrow and I’m super nervous. I’m really worried I’m gonna fail and then end up ruining my GPA. Damn it, why’d I take this class in the first place? You guys should’ve stopped me.”

“I told you not to,” Glimmer pointed out loftily, from where she was lounging on their newly-acquired beanbag. “Remember? When we were doing fall registration I specifically said,  _ Adora that class looks hard as shit and I can tell even though I know next to nothing about science.  _ And you were all like ‘Well, if I can’t handle undergrad biology classes how am I meant to handle medical school?’ Remember that conversation?”

“Yes,” Adora mumbled, raking her hand through her hair. Her ponytail had inevitably come loose after tonight’s stressing. Stray hair strands had kept falling in her face afterward, which only served to stress her out even more. “But we all know I make stupid decisions. Come on, help me out!”

“Girl, no!” Glimmer wagged a finger for emphasis, in between slurps of her chia seed smoothie. “You can’t trick us into helping you with that class. We both know it’s full of a bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo that neither of us can pronounce. Just make a Quizlet or something.”

“No, I swear, it won’t be hard for you guys to help me,” Adora entreated. “You just have to read off parts of my notes, and it’s super pronounceable!”

Glimmer’s eyes narrowed. “Prove it.”

Adora chewed on her lip. “Umm… do T-cells, soluble cytokines, dendritic cells, macrophages, and natural killer cells deal with intracellular infections or with extracellular microorganisms?”

Glimmer’s laughter drowned Adora out halfway through. “Yeah, no.”

Adora sighed. “Worth a shot.” She pressed her knuckles against her forehead to attempt to chase away her burgeoning headache. She hadn’t slept properly this week, and for Adora ‘sleeping properly’ meant getting a good four hours of sleep a night on average. 

Her Immunology professor, Dr. Hope, was possibly one of the most robotic people Adora had ever met, and happened to be one of the most famous members of the BMU faculty. She was well-decorated in awards and was listed as an author in over a hundred research papers, despite only being in her thirties.

It was safe to say that Adora was at least slightly intimidated by her.

What made things worse, somehow, was that Catra for some reason had gotten colder after their last meeting together. The sincerity Adora had dared to show seemed to have only made things worse. Adora hadn’t dared to hope that it would help things, but it still stung to see all her attempts at conversation be replied to with ‘k’, ‘lol’, or just outright being left on read. Adora had always insisted to everyone that she’d never let anything as petty as relationship trouble interfere with her education, but the real reason Adora couldn’t focus on immunology had nothing to do with the difficulty level of the class. And Catra and Adora weren’t even  _ in  _ a relationship. She had no idea if Catra even saw her that way. Not that it mattered. God, why was she even thinking about this now? She was such a mess.

“Hey, you’re gonna ace the test, alright?” Bow patted her shoulder, making Adora jump in her seat. She hadn’t noticed him coming up to her; she’d been so lost in thought about Catra. “I can tell from your expression that you’re not feeling too hot about it, but c’mon. You’re  _ Adora _ . I don’t know anyone who’s even half as determined and motivated as you are. If you don’t do well, no one else possibly could.”

“Thanks, Bow,” she muttered, offering him a weak half-smile. The apple, having been abandoned, was starting to brown. She picked it back up, intent on finishing it before it went mushy.

“Yeah, cheer up,” Glimmer called from the beanbag. “The party is right after your exam, right? So you can just go absolutely crazy. Let out all that steam.”

“I don’t know if I really feel up for it,” Adora said, in between mouthfuls of apple. “I might just, I dunno, go to bed early and watch Netflix while eating yogurt. Rewatch  _ Avatar _ , maybe.”

Bow chuckled. “Oh, man, that show was my childhood. You always had the biggest crush on Azula, I remember. Honestly, I never understood the appeal. Sokka was my favorite character, hands down.”

Adora pointed at Bow with her thumb. “See, Bow agrees with me. We should all just marathon  _ Avatar  _ together instead.” 

Glimmer looked at Adora like she’d sprouted two heads. “Don’t be ridiculous. You are  _ definitely  _ going if I have to drag you there. I know you. If you stay home by yourself you’re gonna spiral, so you’d better come. Unless you think you can’t beat me at beer pong…?”

“You’re right, I can’t beat you in beer pong.” Glimmer’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Then Adora stood up from the table with a smirk. “But I can  _ destroy  _ you in beer pong.”

Glimmer’s laughter was half genuine, half relieved. “Bring it!” 

  
  


“How are you so fucking good at this?” Glimmer whined, a very noticeable slur in her words. She chucked the ping pong ball, now soaked with drink, hard at Adora’s chest. 

Adora effortlessly caught it. “Some people are just born with it,” she replied, a lazy grin on her face. It was just a little bit past midnight, and Perfuma’s party was in full swing. There were around forty people total in the massive house, a few of Perfuma’s closest friends acting as bouncers. Bow, in particular, had been spending most of his time on the porch, bouncing people, much to Glimmer’s extremely visible annoyance. The music was low-key for a party, which was very characteristic for its hostess: no rap, few if not outright zero cuss words, and a lot of piano and acoustic guitar. 

It meant that Adora didn’t need to shout over the music and other people when she asked Glimmer, “Wanna go for another round?”

“No-” Glimmer was on her phone- “I have to go fetch a couple new people. Perfuma’s out back smoking a whole ton of weed with some other girls, so no one’s bouncing people right now.”

“Ooh, who are the new guys?” Adora leaned forward conspiratorially, a little bit too much, and stumbled. She should have probably gone a little easier on the shots. That wasn’t really her fault though- it was the stupid Immunology exam’s fault. She hadn’t even finished, which had only happened in her entire educational career three times before. If Adora had to think about it any more tonight, she might actually go crazy. But that was what the alcohol was for-- to numb her to the point where she wouldn’t have to feel it or think about it.

“Uhh.” Glimmer fumbled for words, red streaking over her cheeks. “Catra and Scorpia.”

“What’s with the sudden Asian glow? Also, the heck? I never knew that you were tight with those two.”

“I’m not tight with them,” Glimmer insisted, but the redness in her cheeks stubbornly refused to fade. “I just know Catra from class. We, uh, have Financial Accounting together.”

“Financial Accounting?” Adora echoed slowly. The cogs in her head were turning, much more slowly than normal because of the multiple shots. But there was something there that she needed to piece together. She narrowed her eyes at Glimmer, stroking her chin thoughtfully as Glimmer began to nervously ramble.

“Yeah. We didn’t really get along that well in the beginning, because let’s be real she’s kind of a bitch. But we got put together for a project on this thing called EBITDA and ended up kinda clicking- I mean, as much as you can click with someone like her- so I decided to invite her ‘cause why not? The more, the merrier, right?”

“Wait a minute…” Adora gaped as everything suddenly clicked into place within her alcohol-muddled mind. “ _ Catra  _ is the hot girl from Financial Accounting?!”

“Who’s hot in Financial Accounting?” Someone poked Adora in the back from behind, and Adora whirled around to see Catra herself. 

Shit, she looked good. She was in a red tank top that was dangerously low-cut and black short shorts. Her pronounced gray smoky eyes made her irises glow, reflecting the dim amber light of the room. And she stood there like she owned the place, her stance as casually confident as ever. There was so much that grabbed Adora’s attention that she honestly didn’t know where to look. Scorpia was next to her, too, but Adora barely even saw her.

“Oh, hey, Catra and Scorpia!” Glimmer handed Catra an unopened beer can, sounding relieved she’d escaped the previous conversation. “How’d you manage to get here without an in?”

Scorpia wrung her hands apologetically. “Catra kind of, uh, snuck in through one of the windows. I followed her and got a bit stuck. You guys might need to replace the screen door. Real sorry about that. I can pay for it to be fixed! That’s not an issue. Uh, does anyone know Perfuma’s Venmo…?”

Catra scoffed, ignoring her roommate’s rambling apologies. “So what’s this setup for, huh? Beer pong? Cause if so, whoever was on the right lost  _ very  _ badly.”

“That’d be me,” Glimmer admitted, sheepishly raising her hand. “Adora kicked my ass, as usual.”

Catra laughed incredulously, tossing back a few stray locks of hair as she did so. “You lost to  _ that  _ loser nerd? Damn, you must suck, Sparkles.”

“I do  _ not _ suck- she’s just good! Scary good!”

“You talk a lot of shit for someone who’s never played me,” Adora cut in. Catra’s eyes narrowed, and for once Adora didn’t care. She was tipsy, she’d just screwed up her Immunology exam so badly she needed to drown herself in alcohol to forget it, and she was tired of Catra being a pain in the ass. 

“I played against you  _ plenty  _ in the past.” Catra crossed her arms. “Or did you forget, Adora? You and I were  _ still  _ tied in one-on-one basketball when you left me. Even after you won captaincy on the junior varsity team. Think I can’t destroy you now, huh?”

“First of all, beer pong is nothing like basketball. Also, no  _ way  _ we were tied. I kicked your ass at least two-thirds of the time-”

“Okay, this sounds fun!” Scorpia exclaimed, looking very much as if she hoped that if she ignored the tension it would dissipate. “Catra and I can team up, and Glimmer and Adora can team up. I’ve never tried beer pong before, so if someone could teach me…?”

“Some other time, Scorpia,” Adora replied. Her gaze remained fixed on Catra, who was staring at her right back. “Tonight, Catra’s  _ mine.”  _

“Fine!” Catra retorted. Glimmer was staring at Adora, eyebrow raised, but Adora barely spared her a glance. “You must’ve turned out to be a masochist if you love losing that badly. You like getting fucked up, is that what it is?”

“If anyone’s a masochist between the two of us, it’s you.” Adora was setting up the table again using fresh solo cups from the bar behind the table. “‘Cause we all know who’s losing tonight.”

Instead of dignifying Adora with a response, Catra poured Bud Lights into each cup, glaring daggers at Adora as she did so. Glimmer backed up to avoid Catra’s angry swipe for some more beer cans. Scorpia seemed to already know to watch from a safe distance.

“Ohh- _ kay,  _ I think I’m gonna leave you two alone,” Glimmer spoke up, backing out of the room with Scorpia in tow. Both girls still in the room barely acknowledged Glimmer and Scorpia’s depature.

Adora dunked the ball into an extra cup to wash it. “Get ready to lose.”

“In your dreams,” Catra retorted, but when Adora made the first shot her smirk was quickly erased. It was a perfect throw, landing squarely in one of Catra’s cups. Catra swore.

“Ready to give up yet?” Adora asked, tilting her head with a cocky grin. Catra downed the beer, making a face as she did so. 

“Beginner’s luck,” Catra insisted. “Watch how it’s done.” She squinted at Adora’s rows of cups, flexing her wrist, and then threw. The ball sailed in a graceful high arc right into a cup, much to Adora’s consternation.

“Lucky shots happen to everyone,” Adora remarked crossly. God, the Bud Light tasted so bad. Perfuma was one of the richest girls Adora knew at Bright Moon; surely she could’ve shelled out for beer better than this. Even Coors tasted better.

Meanwhile, Catra had never looked more smug. “What’s wrong, Adora? Losing your nerve?”

“You’re not even winning,” Adora shot back. 

“Don’t worry. That’ll change.”

She didn’t, though, but the problem was, neither did Adora. The two of them were perfectly matched. That wasn’t surprising, honestly. Catra had always been Adora’s equal in nearly every activity- sports, academics, the arts- but always falling just a hair’s breadth short of the recognition that Adora herself had received. 

But tonight, Adora needed the win. Because she knew exactly why she hadn’t been able to finish the stupid Immunology exam. It had nothing to do with her intellectual abilities and everything to do with the girl across from her right now. 

She wondered, pathetically, if Catra had been as affected by Adora’s sudden re-entrance into her life as Adora had been by Catra’s. She doubted it, though. Catra had always been the type to stomp her emotions into unfeeling dust. Plus, she’d been the one to end their relationship last time, explicitly on Catra’s terms, by blocking Adora on everything. Maybe this sudden coldness over text was the grim harbinger of another incoming block. Maybe Catra would slip out of her life once more, and this time it would be permanent.

Adora didn’t know how she was meant to handle that again.

Maybe it was the alcohol. Scratch that, it was definitely the alcohol. But as Catra cocked her wrist for her next throw, Adora found herself asking, “Why haven’t you been texting me?”

Catra faltered, eyes flicking up to Adora’s. “I was busy,” was her terse reply: a clear indication that she didn’t notice or care about Adora’s emotional turmoil. But she missed her throw. The ball landed right next to the last solo cup on Adora’s side, bouncing a few times before Adora caught it in her hand.

Adora grinned slowly. “Prepare for defeat, like you always do.” Aiming it just right, she gave the ball a light underhand toss- right into Catra’s last cup. 

“Damn it!” Catra swore, but Adora could barely hear her over the sound of her own delighted laughter. “You cheated, I swear.” She stalked over to Adora, hands on her hips, to glare at her full in the face.

“Cheated? How?”

“You threw me off my game on my last throw!” Catra insisted, and to punctuate her words she shoved Adora hard. Forgetting herself, Adora laughed, pulling Catra inward, and then up against the wall. The way they always used to mess around when they were together at Ms. Weaver’s foster home.

Except this time everything was different. Because this time they were older, and Catra was wearing heels, and when her back hit the wall something about the way Catra’s body jerked up in reflex against Adora made her swallow hard. Catra’s eyes were as pretty up close as Adora remembered- even drunkenly hazy and surrounded by slightly smudged eye makeup- and Adora could count every single freckle on her cheeks. She’d always loved Catra’s freckles. And her lips were a deep, dark red. They hadn’t been so addictively scarlet when Catra was younger, had they?

Catra made no attempt to move. 

Adora could lean in right now- and- and… 

Then a wave of nausea hit her, and Adora let go of Catra’s hands, turning half away and doubling over. When Adora broke away, Catra sprang from the wall, backing away as quickly as a spooked leopard.

“Um, bathroom,” Adora choked out. “Sorry, I gotta-”

“Just don’t yack on me,” Catra replied dismissively. The look of mild disgust? disdain? on Catra’s face made Adora’s face burn red with humiliation. But she had bigger problems to deal with at the moment. Pushing past her, Adora half-ran, half-limped past a passed-out dude she didn’t recognize to the bathroom and locked herself inside. 

It took her a good half hour to compose herself to an acceptable degree. By then, at least five people had banged on the door, yelling for her to hurry up in there. But Adora only emerged once she was absolutely certain she was (at least mostly) sober, that her hair was fixed and tied back into her usual ponytail, and most importantly that her breath didn’t smell like vomit. She hoped Perfuma didn’t mind Adora using nearly half a tube of her CBD-infused spearmint toothpaste.

In the main kitchen, she found Mermista quickly pulling away, embarrassed, from her boyfriend Sebastian, once Mermista had realized that Adora had seen them. Sniggering to herself, Adora moved past Perfuma and Scorpia, who were happily chatting while sitting together on the couch. Catra wasn’t in the room with the beer pong table. She hadn’t left, had she? 

“You’re not my therapist, Sparkles.” Catra’s signature raspy voice cut through to Adora. Her head jerked toward the sound, and finally she landed eyes on Catra. She was outside on the porch with… was that Glimmer? But she’d said the two of them weren’t close. Adora casually walked closer to be in proper earshot, glancing around to make sure nobody noticed her.

“Ugh, okay, don’t tell me then.  _ You’re _ the one who came out here and bothered me.” Adora could smell cigarette smoke wafting through the window: an occasional unfortunate habit of Glimmer’s, and apparently Catra’s as well. Adora would never let Catra smoke when they were younger; it must have been something Catra had picked up after Adora had left to live with Glimmer and Angella.

“Yeah, to smoke.  _ You _ brought up Adora, not me.”

Adora slapped her hand over her own mouth to muffle the sharp intake of breath at hearing her name. 

“Because neither of you will talk about it and it’s  _ so  _ annoying. There’s obviously so much tension between you guys but everyone keeps acting like everything’s fine. I’m dying to know.”

“Would be nice if you really were dying, so you couldn’t pester me about this shit.”

“Oh yeah? Give me the cigarette back.”

“Fine, fine!” A hefty sigh. “What did Adora tell you about us?”

_ Us.  _ That single word made Adora’s insides roil with something that seemed a lot more pleasant than nausea.

“Umm, let me think. She honestly never said much about you, or anything about her past, really.”

“Figures,” Catra replied darkly. “She probably wanted to forget me as soon as humanly possible.”

It took every ounce of muscle in Adora’s body to hold herself back from bursting in on their conversation and vehemently denying what Catra had said.

“Nah. She definitely cared about you.” A thoughtful pause. “Or cares. I just meant, like, were you guys screwing on the down low at the foster home? You know, shit like that.”

Laughter. “Hell no. She thought she was straight at the time. So obviously nothing happened.”

There was another short silence, and Adora could just somehow picture the  _ a-ha!  _ look on Glimmer’s face. “Sooooooo,” and Glimmer made sure to drag out the vowel as long as she humanly could, “what you’re saying is, if you guys knew you were both gay, something would’ve definitely gone down?”

“No! Fuck, you’re annoying. I just- she’s…” Adora held her breath as Catra fumbled for words, “Adora is… confusing.”

_ Confusing?  _ Adora felt a strange mangled feeling she couldn’t quite put a name to rise up in her, all dark reds mixed in with bright whiteness. And then, to her immense chagrin, she finally realized how rude she was being.  _ Eavesdropping.  _ Like a  _ kid.  _ Had she really fallen that far because of Catra? She backed away as quietly as possible, turning away from the windows. Hopefully neither of them had noticed. 

The party had significantly toned down by now. People had either slowly filtered out or were strewn across the house in varying levels of consciousness. Adora checked her phone: it was nearly 2 AM. She should find Bow. 

She made her way over to the couch Perfuma and Scorpia were sitting on. The two were lounging against the chiffon cushions, laughing quietly with bottles of beer in hand.

“Oh, hi, Adora!” Perfuma said brightly, standing up and raising her beer in greeting. “Have you been enjoying the party? I’d heard from Bow that you have been under a lot of stress recently. Hopefully the positive vibes here have cheered you up!”

Adora smiled at that. “Yeah, thanks so much for the invite. Helped me take my mind off things. Classes have been really spiking in difficulty, now that I’m taking upper level courses.”

“Really?” Perfuma’s thin black brows knit together in concern. “If you say it’s difficult, then it must be pretty much impossible. I remember when we took Biology 110 together- the professor told everyone at the end of the year that you’d gotten a hundred on every single quiz and exam.”

“Ah, well.” Adora scratched the back of her neck. If Catra were here with them, she’d probably roll her eyes and say something like, ‘So what if you get good scores in baby bio? Even the most idiotic humanities major in this entire campus could ace that.’ Adora honestly would rather hear that than Perfuma’s compliments.

“By the way, have you met Scorpia here?” Perfuma gestured to her white-haired, significantly bulkier companion. “She’s lovely! I’m sure you two would get along wonderfully.”

“Oh, uh…” Adora grimaced. Not that she disliked Scorpia. It just seemed that  _ Scorpia  _ wasn’t the biggest fan of  _ her.  _

This was further supported by Scorpia herself, who responded to Perfuma, “Yeah, we know each other already. Catra’s told me a lot about you.” It was impossible to miss the narrowing of her eyes when she spoke the word  _ Catra _ .

Ah. So that was why Scorpia didn’t like her. Considering how the two of them must have been close while they were still in Horde High, Catra had probably said some  _ very  _ unkind things about Adora.

Clearly sensing the spike in awkwardness, Perfuma laughed a little too loudly. “Well, I’ve known Adora since we were classmates at our old high school, Etheria, and she’s always been very kind to everyone.”

“Thanks, Perfuma,” Adora muttered. “Hey, uh, have you seen Bow anywhere? I’m honestly tired as hell and ready to crash.”

“You can always stay over here!” Perfuma offered cheerfully. “We have plenty of beds.” Noticing Adora’s awkward smile at her words, she continued, “But the last time I saw Bow, he was on the third floor, with Mermista’s boyfriend. I think they were trying to put out a small fire?”

Adora’s brow furrowed. “Uhh.. shouldn’t you be more worried about a fire in your house?”

Perfuma waved her hand airily. “It was only a little one! And none of my houseplants were hurt. It’s fine, accidents happen.”

“Riiight. Thanks, though.” Adora made her way up the stairs, hoping there wouldn’t be too much destruction up there for her to clear up. Thankfully, Bow seemed to have taken care of it, as the room only very vaguely smelled like ash. Sebastian was slumped over a chair, a small black charred hole clearly visible on the carpet underneath. 

“Hey!” Bow was leaning against the sliding glass door, bong in hand. “Are you ready to leave? I’m honestly exhausted, so I was just about to go downstairs and find you and Glimmer.”

“Do I even want to know what happened here?” Adora asked, eyeing the besmirched carpet with mild concern.

Bow shook his head good-naturedly. “Sea Hawk here took Perfuma’s lighter, which we were using to light this bong, and was trying to do tricks with it. It didn’t end well.”

“Mermista has… interesting taste,” Adora commented, muffling a giggle when she remembered what Glimmer had had to say about it: ‘ _ God, what a downgrade. From hooking up with a hot pre-med who has literally everything going for her to getting cuffed with a dude like that.’ _

“He’s nice, though,” Bow offered mildly. “Do you wanna go downstairs and look for Glimmer?”

“Sure, let’s go.” 

They met Glimmer at the foot of the stairwell. No Catra, though. “Hey guys, I already called an Uber. They’ll be here in seven minutes. Did either of you forget anything?”

“Nah, I only brought my phone to the party,” Adora replied. “I think I’m gonna step outside for some air until the Uber comes.” 

“Catra left already,” Glimmer said, a knowing grin on her face. 

“Really?” Adora asked, fighting to keep a neutral tone. She would  _ not  _ get flustered this time. “But I still see Scorpia here. Did she ditch her roommate and go home by herself?”

Glimmer shrugged nonchalantly. “Seems like something Catra would do.”

Adora couldn’t argue with that. After saying a quick goodbye to Perfuma and Mermista, she stepped outside, basking in the cool fresh air. This part of the city, so close to Bright Moon, was always lit up even at night, which meant Adora could see remarkably well: the other gigantic houses on Plumeria Road, the small park facing the opposite side of the street, the muted hues of the cars parked on the roadside. 

Catra had said Adora was ‘confusing’. Did that mean she was going through the same deluge of conflicting thoughts and emotions that Adora herself was? Was that why she hadn’t moved away when they’d almost- well.

Adora had never had a girlfriend. She’d had flings and hookups, but nobody had ever quite managed to capture and hold Adora’s heart long enough for her to want to stay. She’d decided that she didn’t have time for romance; after all, she needed to power her way through undergrad, then medical school, and after that, residency. 

But maybe she’d only felt that way because nobody, so far, had made her feel like they were worthy of Adora’s time. 

“Adora? Earth to Adora! Our Uber’s here!” Bow called, and Adora was jerked out of her thoughts. 

“Coming!”

  
  


The sudden vibration of her phone woke Adora up the next morning. Shielding her eyes from the offensively bright sunlight streaming in through her window, she rolled over on her side with a groan to check her phone. 

It was a text from Catra. Adora’s eyes opened wide, tiredness entirely forgotten.

_ Catra: do you remember anything from last night? _

Memories of the party instantly came flooding back. The copious drinking- which explained her headache- as well as the unexpectedly intense beer pong, the almost-kiss… But before she could respond, Glimmer’s voice from outside made her flinch and drop her phone.

“Why weren’t you hanging with us?” her best friend complained, a shrillness to her tone that indicated an approaching explosion. “I barely saw you throughout the whole party. It was supposed to be the Best Friend Squad having fun together, not you just smoking with Perfuma.”

“What’s wrong with me hanging out with Perfuma? She’s my friend too,” Bow protested. 

“Yeah,  _ friend _ ,” Glimmer spat.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bow retorted, his voice beginning to rise in volume as well.

“I haven’t forgotten you guys went to prom together.” It had been a point of contention between Bow and Glimmer for the past two years. Glimmer never failed to bring it up in an argument with him. Which meant that Adora could predict exactly what he would say in response.

“Yeah, but why does that matter to you? Why is it such a big deal? I’m allowed to hang out with other people if I want.” Bow sounded tired already. Adora couldn’t blame him; she was exhausted just listening to their fight, as she had been for the past few months. They’d been becoming more and more frequent, in tandem with Glimmer’s increasing frequency in fights with her mother.

“Fine, so go hang out with her then! See if I care! I’ll just be here with Adora, who you also abandoned last night.”

Adora winced at that. She really, really did not want to get involved in this mess.

Luckily, it seemed Bow shared that sentiment. “There’s no need to drag Adora into this. She didn’t complain about me having fun with Perfuma. And besides, it’s not like you guys didn’t know anyone else at the party.”

Maybe Adora  _ should  _ get involved, though. If she spoke to Angella about it, maybe things between Angella and Glimmer would simmer down, and in turn Glimmer would stop taking her anger out on everyone else. 

When she opened her phone to make a note of it for the next time she saw Angella, though, the message from Catra taunted her. 

_ Catra: do you remember anything from last night? _

Adora worried at her knuckles, reading and re-reading the text. She could still hear Glimmer and Bow’s voices down the hall. Was that what she wanted for her own future? Because if she took the leap, if she admitted that what had happened wasn’t merely during a drunken stupor- if she admitted- then whatever uneasy truce Catra and Adora had now would definitely be broken.

She couldn’t lose what little she had. She couldn’t take that risk. 

_ Adora: Haha, no, sorry _

Only a few seconds later came Catra’s response.

_ Catra: ok cool i don’t either _

Adora knew Catra was lying. Catra wasn’t particularly a lightweight, and she certainly hadn’t been any drunker than Adora had been. But Adora wasn’t going to dare to call her out on that. If she had to, Adora would lie and pretend all day long.

With a sigh, Adora got up to defuse the argument between Bow and Glimmer.

Her phone remained on her bed, still open on Catra’s message. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heres to all da asians out there that turn tomato red after their first shot


End file.
